On December 29, NV reported that Ukraineʼs ambassador to the UK Valerii Zaluzhnyi is planning to leave his post soon. However, his media advisor Oksana Torop denied this information in a comment to Babel.
NV sources claim that Zaluzhnyi wants to leave the diplomatic service in January. According to media reports, Zaluzhnyi expressed his desire to resign to President Volodymyr Zelensky a few weeks ago, when he was in Kyiv.
According to other sources, for some time Zaluzhnyi even considered the position of ambassador to the US or commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but there are no decisions on this at the moment. There is no talk of changing the ambassador to the US at the moment.
Zaluzhnyiʼs media advisor Oksana Torop commented on this news to Babel. She says that nothing has changed.
"As always, unnamed sources know everything about Zaluzhnyi and his plans. But nothing has changed. He continues to defend Ukraineʼs interests as ambassador to the United Kingdom," she said.
- Zaluzhnyi was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 2021 to 2024. In February 2024, he was dismissed from his post, and Oleksandr Syrskyi was appointed the new Commander-in-Chief.
- In March of the same year, President Volodymyr Zelensky approved the candidacy of Valerii Zaluzhnyi for the position of Ukraineʼs ambassador to the United Kingdom. He officially began his duties as ambassador on July 11.
- There are regular rumors in the media that Zaluzhnyi is planning a political career and is assembling a team. However, back in October, the former head of the military council himself stated that he does not recognize any ideas of holding elections during the war.
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