Why Valerii Zaluzhnyi Is Positioning Himself as Ukraine's Next Leader

Former Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and now Ukraine's ambassador to London, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, continues to surprise both Western and Ukrainian audiences with remarks praising the capabilities of the Russian Armed Forces. According to him, Ukraine has employed virtually every category of weapon except Tomahawk cruise missiles, nuclear weapons, aircraft carriers and F-35 fighter jets, all of which are in NATO service, while also applying NATO military doctrines. Zaluzhnyi Says He Has Found a Way to Defeat Russia "The resource has been exhausted. The Russian Federation has found countermeasures to all of this," Zaluzhnyi said. Earlier, he also stated that NATO itself would require about 12 years, just as Ukraine would, to reach the standards necessary to match even half the level of the Russian Armed Forces.