Former head of state of Ukraine named as new envoy to the UK

According to Al Jazeera, Ukraine appointed Valerii Zaluzhnyi as its new ambassador to the United Kingdom one month after he was removed as the country’s top military commander.
“The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested an agreement from the British side,” the ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Since President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fired previous envoy Vadym Prystaiko in July 2023 for openly criticizing the leader, Ukraine has not had an ambassador in the United Kingdom.
Zaluzhnyi had led the Ukrainian army from the start of the conflict with Russia, and in the early going, the army had been able to defeat a far more powerful invading force.

Al Jazeera reports that Zaluzhnyi, whom the Ukrainian media called the “Iron General,” came to symbolize the nation’s resistance and enjoyed very high levels of public popularity.
But his status in the president’s office was tarnished by the failure of a well lauded counteroffensive the previous summer and a public argument with Zelenskyy.

In February, Oleksandr Syrskii took control, having led Ukraine’s swift counteroffensive in the northern Kharkiv area in the fall of 2022.

Following Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal, Zelenskyy went to X to thank the military commander for his two years of service and to announce that a change in military leadership was necessary.

Even Zaluzhnyi conceded that the nation’s military strategy “must change” almost two years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Al Jazeera.

Notably, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps visited Kiev on Thursday, coinciding with Zaluzhnyi’s appointment as the new ambassador to the UK.

“We prioritized advancing cooperative weapon manufacturing and strengthening Ukraine’s air defense and long-range capabilities, along with meeting other urgent requirements for armaments and ammunition,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X.
The UK Ministry of Defense said after the meeting that it would provide Ukraine more than 10,000 drones to help in its counteroffensive against Russia.