NEW YORK – At the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, no one from Washington to Brussels would have bet on the success of the kyiv army. no one except Valery Zaluzhnyithe commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, who for two months has been leading the extraordinary resistance to the brutal offensive in Moscow.
The strategist behind all of kyiv’s military successes is 48 years old and was appointed to his current position by President Volodimir Zelensky in July last year, with the aim of rejuvenate Ukraine’s armed forces. “We need to move away from map warfare, from battles in the style of… 1943″Zaluzhnyi said in an interview two years ago. Ironically, the general is fighting an enemy that appears to have emerged from World War II.
Born into a military family, childhood in the city of his mother Chernihiv, as a child he dreamed of becoming a simple soldier and today he is known as the “iron general” or the “indestructible”, as they call him in his homeland where It’s already considered a hero.
Zaluzhnyi embodies a generation of soldiers who have been preparing for total war once morest Russia since 2014. Those who spent eight years in the separatist pro-Russian eastern region of Donbass, when they were not on the front lines, went to Europe to train with the forces of NATO.
Out of these experiences emerged a group of military professionals who, lacking the rigid Soviet approach of their predecessors, have in recent weeks managed to displace Moscow’s forces in a war-style more agile, decentralized and creative.
Unlike the American generals, Norman Schwarzkopf -who led US troops in the first Gulf War- and David “The King” Petraeus -hero of the Iraq war-, Zaluzhnyi does not share the international role that President Zelensky has had since the beginning of the war.
He has given only a few interviews since February, very few public appearances, and only communicates with posts through his Facebook account.
Some are short operational updates, others are messages of thanks to the Ukrainian doctors, troops and people. “Ukrainian armed forces are the shield of Europe,” he wrote on March 22. “The price of freedom is high. Remember that!”. On April 2 he stated that “Ukrainians have forgotten that they are afraid. Our goal is to win.” The latest, longer post is from April 3 and refers to his phone call with the Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley. In that call, the Ukrainian commander expressed kyiv’s gratitude for the support, but reiterated his call for increased military support.
”With the help of the West we can eliminate evil. Because we don’t want what happened in Ukraine to happen in Europe as well: the murder of women and children, the demolition of infrastructures”, he stated.
ANSA Agency
