President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed the candidacy of Valery Zaluzhny for the position of ambassador of Ukraine to Great Britain, AFP reports.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine has sent a request to the British side for confirmation of the post,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reports on its website.

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Why Zelenskyi dismissed the ex-commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army

Differences between Zelenskyi and Zaluzhny have been arising since last spring, when Ukrainian and Western publications wrote, citing sources in Kyiv, that the general wanted to withdraw his troops from Bakhmut, which the president categorically opposed.

However, the differences between them flared up publicly only late last year, after Zaluzhny hinted in an interview with The Economist in early November that Kyiv’s summer offensive had failed.

President Zelenskyi’s office immediately criticized the comments, and the Ukrainian president later said the offensive had not “deadlocked,” as the general claimed. But time will show that Zaluzhnyi was right.

“The problem is that we see everything the enemy does, and they see everything we do. To get out of this impasse, we need something new,” Zaluzhny argued, stressing the need for a “technological leap” in equipping his army to advance.

According to Ukrainian sources, his comments would have convinced Zelenskyi to fire him, as the leader in Kyiv believed they could undermine Western confidence in Ukraine’s ability to defeat the Russian army and, by implication, military aid to Kyiv.