Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Kingdom and former Commander-in-Chief of the country's Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhny said that in 2022, while he was the head of the Ukrainian army, officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) tried to search his office. He told this in an interview with the Associated Press.
According to him, the incident occurred in mid-September 2022, a few hours after a tense meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Zaluzhny claims that SBU officers arrived at his office with the intention of searching it without being told a specific reason. He refused access to the computers and documents.
The former commander-in-chief described the actions as a threat. In the presence of SBU officers, he called the then head of the presidential office, Andriy Ermak, and stated that he was ready to resist. According to his story, he was even ready to attract military units to protect his office. Zaluzhny also contacted the then head of the SBU, Vasyl Malyuk, who, according to him, stated that he was not informed of such an operation and promised to clarify the situation.
Later, as Zaluzhny claims, it became clear that a court had issued a search warrant for the same address at the request of the SBU. Journalists from the Associated Press have reviewed the document and found that it mentions a strip club that was closed even before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion.
In the interview, Zaluzhny also spoke about his disagreements with Zelensky over military strategy. According to him, a particularly serious dispute arose over the counteroffensive in the Zaporizhzhia region in 2023, which did not lead to the expected breakthrough to the Sea of Azov. Zaluzhny emphasizes that a successful operation required concentration of forces and an element of surprise, but instead, Ukrainian troops were distributed along a wide front, which reduced their strike power. The publication notes that these assessments were confirmed by two Western military officials who requested anonymity.
The former commander-in-chief criticized the strategy's dependence on "unrealistic number of troops" and the insufficiently effective implementation of new technologies on the battlefield.
Zaluzny, who is often mentioned as a potential candidate for president of Ukraine and retains high public support, said he did not intend to discuss political ambitions during the war. "Until the war or martial law is over, I will not talk about it and I have not taken any actions in this direction," he said.