Ukraine's former military chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi has disclosed new details about his rift with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, potentially deepening tensions between the two wartime leaders. In an interview with the Associated Press, Zaluzhnyi described feeling threatened by a 2022 security raid and blamed Zelenskiy for a major battlefield failure during the 2023 counteroffensive.

Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine's ambassador to London, recounted how dozens of agents from Ukraine's SBU security service raided his office in September 2022. He claimed he warned Zelenskiy's chief of staff that he would deploy troops to protect his command center. The SBU later stated the address was listed in an unrelated organized crime case and no searches were conducted.

Zaluzhnyi also criticized Zelenskiy's handling of the 2023 counteroffensive, which aimed to break through Russian defenses but ended in a series of defeats for Kyiv. He said his original plan to focus on a single axis was overridden by Zelenskiy's order to push across much of the front line. Opinion polls have consistently shown Zaluzhnyi as Zelenskiy's main challenger in any future election, though he has never expressed interest in running for office.