The head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhnyi, on Tuesday expressed his disappointment with the work of the military administrations, in a comment in which he suggested mobilizing more troops for the war against Russia. Zaluzhny explained to journalists in Kyiv that he did not publicly call for the mobilization of 500,000 people, citing “military secrecy.” According to him, such a figure is a general plan and will be completed gradually, Reuters reports Ukrainian Pravda.

General Valery Zaluzhnyi, who is said to have a strained relationship with President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, gave his first military press conference on Tuesday, a day after Ukraine’s parliament released the text of a draft law to amend the military draft program. in particular, lowering the age of men who can be mobilized from 27 to 25, News.ro reports.

The release of the bill sparked controversy on social media, which appeared to prompt General Zaluyny, who usually avoids public speaking, to make a rare effort to speak to the media.

The head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine expressed his disappointment with the work of the military commissars, suggesting that they should mobilize more troops for the war against Russia.

“Now I am not satisfied with the activity (of the reception centers),” he said. “If I was satisfied with their work, we would not be discussing this draft law (on mobilization) here,” the head of the Armed Forces added.

Zaluzhny denies that he publicly called for the mobilization of 500,000

In the first months of the Russian invasion, Ukraine had tens of thousands of volunteers, but that enthusiasm faded after 22 months of full-scale war.

Changing the way we recruit is an extremely sensitive subject for a weary population in the midst of a nearly two-year war with no end in sight.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said that the military proposes to mobilize an additional 450,000-500,000 people into the army. On December 25, the head of the People’s Service Party in the parliament, David Arahamia, said that the military command sent the government a request for the mobilization of 500,000 conscripts.

Zaluini, who is said to have been at loggerheads with the president, acknowledged the figure but said it did not come from the military.

According to him, such a figure is a general plan and will be completed gradually.

The Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Army explained to journalists in Kyiv that he would never make such a figure public, and this remark could renew public speculation about political friction between him and the president. “I would not discuss these numbers publicly,” said Zaluzhny.

“The military command did not ask for any number (500,000, as reported by David Arahamiya – ed.). The military command continues to defend the state and makes its demands (ammunition, weapons and human resources) accordingly. This is done constantly, but we do not implement it in some separate format, visiting the Cabinet of Ministers or the Verkhovna Rada,” said Valery Zaluzhnyi, asserting that any information related to the formation of new military units, as well as the forecast of losses that Ukraine can to undergo in 2024 is a “military secret,” he said at a briefing.

Last week, he criticized the president’s decision to fire all regional HR chiefs amid efforts to root out widespread corruption in the field.

As for recruiting efforts, Zaluzhny said he would support the military’s implementation of electronic recruitment, a move that would replace or enhance the current model of recruiting officers handing out enlistment papers to people on the street or at roadblocks.

“We welcome any means that will meet our need for people,” Zaluzhny said.

The general led the 2023 counteroffensive, which failed to recapture much of Russian-controlled territory. However, he remains extremely popular among many Ukrainians after repelling Russian forces from the Ukrainian capital in early 2022 and successfully launching two counteroffensives in the fall of that year, during which significant territory was recaptured.

“We had quite ambitious goals in 2023. I was not disappointed with the level (of foreign aid) in 2023. Of course, it was not the whole (requested volume), but it allowed us to conduct confident combat operations,” he said.

Tensions between Zaluzhny and Zelensky flared in November after the general said the war had reached a stalemate because of the technical condition of the battlefield, a comment that drew rebuke from the president’s office.

Zelenskyi and his allies have consistently taken a less bleak view of the war, saying that Ukraine can and will push Russian troops out of every inch of occupied territory.

Zaluyny said the time since he made his controversial comments proved him right: “I got a lot of criticism for it, but over time people realized I was absolutely right,” he said, apparently in a new attempt to deny the president.

But the general added that Ukraine and its allies have already found ways to resolve most of the doubts and problems he raised in his November comments about the situation on the battlefield.

Polls of public opinion in Ukraine show that the commander of the Ukrainian army is currently more popular than President Zelenskyi.

Zaluzhnyi also answered a number of questions about martial law. In response to one of them, he admitted that Ukrainian troops had retreated to the outskirts of Maryinka, a city they had been fighting for for three months and which, according to the general, now “does not exist” due to destruction.

In response to another question, he said that the war of 2024 will look different from the war of 2023, citing the wide range of technologies on the battlefield that are constantly improving.

Mobilization limited to 36 months

General Valery Zaluzhnyi also said that mobilization at the front will be limited to 36 months and that this is a compromise with the government if there is no escalation and there are replacements on the front line.

Zaluzhnyi expressed hope that there will be enough time to prepare stocks by 2025.

“My position is simple. I will not tire of reminding you that there is a war that is conducted according to its own laws and depends on the actions of our enemy. I understand very well that our soldiers perform their work in extremely difficult conditions. And, of course, I would like those who go and serve to know how much they will fight,” said Zaluzhny