Zaluzhny commented on the “wiretapping” in his office

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (ASU) Valery Zaluzhny commented on reports that appeared the day before that a listening device was found in his office. As Zaluzhny told RBC-Ukraine, the device was found not in his office, but in the room he planned to use today.

“I have several places where I work. And this happened in one of them. I haven’t been there for a long time. But we checked and found a listening device,” the publication quoted Zaluzhny as saying. The chief of staff noted that the incident should be considered in the context of the war, and said that he had no friends who could listen to him: “The investigation will prove that it happened.” According to Zaluzhnyi, he is confident that the devices were not installed by the staff of the General Staff.

On Monday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that there was more than one eavesdropping device. According to the statement, they “were installed in the offices intended for the work of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the employees of the Apparatus to support his activities.” The mass media reported on this with reference to sources the day before. Sources claim that the devices are equipped with elements of an unknown sample, so their installer cannot be identified.

The Security Service of Ukraine stated that the technical device found in Zaluzhny’s office was not working. A criminal case has been opened.

Recently, Ukrainian and Western mass media have periodically written about the contradictions between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Zaluzhny.

In early November, The Economist magazine published an interview with Zaluzhny. The commander-in-chief admitted that the war had reached a stalemate and the hostilities could turn into a protracted positional war. After interviewing Zaluzhny, Zelensky noted that he did not consider the situation to be a stalemate, but admitted that the situation on the battlefield remains difficult. A number of employees of the President’s Office and deputies from the ruling party spoke out with criticism of the Central Committee or his subordinates. At the same time, Zelensky himself and the Minister of Defense did not criticize the Commander-in-Chief.

Responding to journalists’ questions on Monday, Zaluzhny answered negatively to the question of whether the situation at the front is now deadlocked. At the same time, he refused to talk about the possibility of a new offensive, saying that if he talks about it, it will turn into a “show”.

Both Zaluzhny and Zelensky previously said that they believe in the possibility of the Ukrainian military to conduct a successful offensive in the event of supplies of a sufficient number of weapons and combat aircraft to Ukraine. Zelensky admitted that due to the lack of weapons, Ukraine has not yet achieved the desired results on the battlefield.

According to a survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, the results of which were published on Monday, the trust of Ukrainian citizens in President Volodymyr Zelenskyi decreased from 84% in December 2022 to 62% in December 2023, however, it is significantly higher than trust in other politicians, the Verkhovna Rada and the Cabinet of Ministers. At the same time, trust in the head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is even higher – 88%. At the same time, 59% of respondents trust both Zelensky and Zaluzhny.