Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made his first comments on the possible dismissal of Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, saying that Ukraine needs a change in leadership, not just in the military. Radio NV discussed Zelenskyy’s recent interview with political analyst Ihor Reiterovych.

Read also: Zelenskyy wants to replace ‘range of state leaders’, not just Armed Forces chief Zaluzhny

“First of all, I noticed that this all played out again in the Western media,” said Reiterovych.

“It is a tradition that Bankova [the Ukrainian President’s Office] does not to talk about important, even programmatic things directly to Ukrainians, not to the domestic media, which could certainly ask more in-depth questions. This is because our journalists, unlike many of their Western colleagues, have a much better grasp of the situation and understanding of certain processes.”

Reiterovych criticized the President’s approach to discussing the changes, saying that “the Bankova simply repeated what it had done before. It expressed some general things. Obviously hoping for some kind of reaction, which will now be in the Western media. Perhaps directly from our Western partners who read these media.”

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The analyst also questioned the way that the leadership changes have been framed.

“In general, the head of state is one person. It is written in the Constitution. And this person’s name is Zelenskyy,” he said.

However, Zelenskyy “talked about the leadership of the state But I doubt that from a procedural and institutional point of view the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is related to the leadership of the state. That is, these are still slightly different positions and completely different functions.”

From Reiterovych’s point of view, Zelenskyy should be more clear and candid about what he is proposing to do, saying that if the President “is talking about some serious personnel changes to the [power] vertical, then he should name the specific areas in which this will be done.

“I think Ukrainians have a lot of questions, for example, about certain employees of the Presidential Administration. They would like to see some changes in that direction. But something tells me that this is hardly the case.”

Finally Reiterovych questioned the way that news about the war is being conveyed from the top.

“In this interview, we heard that there is ‘a virtual stalemate’ at the front because of a lack of equipment, and that this needs to be resolved with the help of the latest technological innovations,” Reiterovych said.

Read also: Zelenskyy to convene Staff meeting to decide fate of Zaluzhnyi, rumored to be on the rocks – Butusov

“When I read this, I had a bit of déjà vu, because I had heard all this information somewhere before. Then I remembered that it was in an article by Zaluzhnyi, who wrote about it, and who was criticized quite a bit for it in the Bankova. They claimed the general shouldn’t have said such things because the situation is not really a stalemate. But now that some time has passed, and the President, the head of state, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, actually recognizes this fact and says it himself. And he is talking about the same plan that Zaluzhnyi recently put forward in his article, where he described the need to use the latest technology, especially drones, to turn this situation around.”

As Reiterovych says, “this situation suggests that there are indeed active discussions, and the President probably has plans to carry out this restructuring. But when it will take place, in what context, with what rationale, is an absolutely open question today.”

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Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine