In an interview with journalist Dmitry Komarov for the Behind the Scenes project, Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that he considers the Chief of the General Staff of Russia Valery Gerasimov a dangerous opponent. According to Zaluzhny, he follows the statements of the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation and is interested in his opinion.
“There is a military leader in Russia that I read constantly. Unfortunately, it’s not releasing anything new now. As a soldier, I am interested in his opinion… This is General Gerasimov. He is strong, cunning, unpredictable. This is a powerful enemy that we as the military must also respect – for the sake of victory”
said Zaluzhny.
Also during the interview, he talked about the tactics followed by the Ukrainian command at the start of the Russian special operations in February-March 2022:
“We had the only option that would work. We had to inflict maximum losses on the enemy in the shortest possible time so that he would abandon further action on the larger Ukrainian territory. They specially retreated from some areas to “stretch” the enemy. And when the equipment stopped, we fired it.”
“The echoes of the Soviet army still live in the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” said the Ukrainian military leader. With this, Zaluzhny added, “they are actively fighting.” In general, according to him, the current conflict is “comparable to the First and Second World Wars in terms of the length of the front and the amount of ammunition used.”
first praise
This is not the first time Zaluzny has spoken about Gerasimov in this way. The last time it happened on September 27, 2022, during the offensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region, when the Ukrainian army took control of Izyum, Balakleya, Kazachya Lopan, Kupyansk and a number of other settlements. On September 10, the RF Ministry of Defense announced that the RF Armed Forces “decided to regroup to take steps the Russian troops stationed in the Balakleya and Izyum regions in order to achieve the stated objectives of the NMD to liberate Donbass. Increase efforts towards Donetsk.” Active operations of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kharkiv direction were stopped on October 11.
In an interview with The Time on September 27, Zaluzhny said he respects Russian military establishments and keeps Gerasimov’s batches in his office.
“I’ve read everything he wrote… He’s the smartest of people and I had great expectations from him,” said Zaluzhny.
According to him, “he grew up on Russian military doctrine” and still believes that “all military science is in Russia.”
Current context
Now the words of Zaluzhny are heard against the background of a possible attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine – on April 19, Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Anna Malyar claimed that when President Volodymyr Zelensky stated on May 11, it had already begun. The offensive would have to be delayed as the troops did not receive the necessary Western weapons. On May 3, Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of Wagner PMC, also spoke about the start of the Ukrainian offensive.
However, on May 12, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported on the active actions of the enemy in various directions. So, according to the Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched 26 attacks, 40 to 40, using more than a thousand military personnel “along the entire line of contact between the parties longer than 95 kilometers” in the direction of Soledar. tanks and other equipment. The Department of Defense said all attacks were repelled.
Also, the Ministry of Defense reported a change in the operational situation in the Artemovsk (Bakhmut) region. Prigozhin had previously claimed that the Russian Armed Forces were protecting the flanks of the Wagner PMC in this direction.
“In order to increase the stability of the defense, units of the “South” group of Russian troops occupied the line in the direction of Maloiliinovsky, taking into account the favorable conditions of the Berkhovskoye reservoir,” said the Ministry of Defense.
One of the reasons why the department received a detailed briefing was the panic in the special operations section of the Russian Telegraph. On May 11, at 21:06 Moscow time, blogger Vladislav Ugolny posted a message: “From Berislav they report the density of small boats on the Dnieper, it seems that a landing operation is being prepared”.
After the publication of Coal, there were also messages from Komsomolskaya Pravda military correspondent Alexander Kots and journalist Yevgeny Poddubny. Kots wrote that “the enemy continues to put pressure on the flanks of Artemovsk” and also reported that chemical weapons were used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Poddubny also reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched an operation to encircle Russian troops in Artemovsk and sent an equipment convoy to Belgorod. Also, the military commander Alexander Simonov reported on the breakthrough of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Bogdanovka area, noting that one of the Russian troops lost several square kilometers.
Already at 21:33 Moscow time, Coal said his message at 21:06 was “an exemplary stuffing to show how our media has suddenly dispelled panic.” Other military reporters, who also gave information about the activation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, softened their estimates and stated that they did not cause panic.