Volodymyr Zelensky’s office was forced to deny that army chief Valery Zaluzhny had been sacked on Monday night.

A string of Ukrainian newspapers had reported that the commander-in-chief was being sacked or forced to resign after Boryslav Bereza, an MP, first made the claim.

But Sergei Nikiforov, Mr Zelensky’s press secretary, said: “Definitely not. The president did not fire the commander in chief.”

Ukraine’s ministry of defence also denied the reports, saying: “Dear journalists, we immediately answer everyone: No, it’s not true.”

Reports of tension between Mr Zelensky and Gen Zaluzhny, who is enormously popular with the public, first emerged after the failed summer counter-offensive.

In November, the president rebuked Gen Zaluzhny for saying that the war had reached a “stalemate”.

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