General Valery Zaluzhny says he opposes elections during the war and denies building any campaign team. Photo / Getty Images
The man who many Ukrainians see as the most credible alternative to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lives in London, far from the battlefields that defined his career.
For the past year and a half, retired General Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s former commander in chief, has been its ambassador to Britain, a post widely regarded as a graceful exile after his dismissal by Zelenskyy in February 2024.
Zaluzhny’s distance from Kyiv, possibly an attempt to sideline his political ambitions even before he voiced any, instead has left him at a safe – if at times personally frustrating – remove from tensions back home.
Zelenskyy has been rattled by a corruption scandal and is under pressure from United States President Donald Trump to accept a plan to halt the war that is likely to force him to cede territory.
Already, jabs by Trump – echoing a talking point of Russian President Vladimir Putin – have forced Zelenskyy to say that he would be prepared to call an election if the US and its allies provide security guarantees, and if the Ukrainian parliament adopts legislation to allow a vote under martial law.
Experts on democracy and elections say it would be impossible to meet international standards for a free and fair election in wartime conditions, with millions of Ukrainians displaced.
But even hints of a vote, along with signals by Zelenskyy that he would not remain in office after the war, have stirred speculation about Ukraine’s future and renewed attention on Zaluzhny.
In Ukraine, where he is credited with holding off Russia’s early onslaught, no name looms larger in the public imagination.
“You could almost say it was a win-win situation,” Orysia Lutsevych, head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House, said of the general’s appointment as ambassador.
“It avoided destabilising Ukraine, where he was so popular, while giving him something useful to do in wartime that is related to the war effort.”
Even from abroad, Zaluzhny has maintained the habits of a commander.
In his embassy office in London, he watches live battlefield feeds on a bank of monitors. He rarely speaks with Zelenskyy now but has never publicly criticised the man who ended his military career.
Removed from uniform – his hefty frame now fills business suits – he has continued to serve with disciplined restraint.
Zaluzhny’s wartime record is mixed.
He is credited with defending Kyiv in 2022 and leading stunning counter-attacks that pushed back the Russians in Kharkiv and Kherson that autumn but is also associated with a failed 2023 counteroffensive that led to many casualties but no significant battlefield gains.
Yet public trust in him has endured. Polls suggest he would be a formidable contender if he ran for president, though even his aides say they do not know whether he intends to do so.
Zelenskyy removed him amid disagreements over mobilisation levels and growing unease in the administration about the general’s popularity.
Zaluzhny writes articles, delivers speeches and issues statements but largely avoids interviews. The Ukrainian Embassy in London did not respond to an interview request for this article.
Zaluzhny, 52, has served as ambassador to Britain since July 2024.
He has met British officials and diplomats from around the world, spoken at cultural events and steadily built a civilian identity separate from his military past.
He occasionally posts glimpses of his life in London, including a Tower Bridge selfie with his wife. Some posts have drawn light mockery back home, a sign of how closely Ukrainians watch him.
People who have met Zaluzhny describe a soft-spoken, attentive figure who is comfortable delegating, and whose speeches often gravitate towards defence and the future of modern warfare.
He has been an engaged diplomat, addressing Ukrainian students at Cambridge, meeting Defence Secretary John Healey, accompanying King Charles during a visit to a trauma research centre at Imperial College London, addressing both the Labour and Conservative party conferences, reflective of Britain’s bipartisan support of Ukraine.
Ukrainian political figures sometimes visit him at the embassy in London’s Holland Park, according to media reports. But Zaluzhny does not solicit publicity and has publicly denied forming a political team or supporting elections while there is a war.
His media adviser, Oksana Torop, a former BBC journalist, told the New Voice of Ukraine that “there’s no such thing as a campaign headquarters”.
Observers say London has broadened Zaluzhny’s profile. Previously known exclusively as a military leader, he increasingly carries himself as a statesman.
A splashy feature in Vogue Ukraine last summer showed him in a sharp blue suit and set off buzz about political ambitions – speculation he has repeatedly played down.
Polling, nonetheless, shows how competitive he could be.
In a survey published in December, Ipsos found that 23% of respondents preferred Zaluzhny, compared with 20% who supported Zelenskyy.
Other figures trailed well behind, including former president Petro Poroshenko at 9% and Kyrylo Budanov, the former head of military intelligence who was recently appointed as Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, at 7%.
That support for Zaluzhny, analysts said, is driven in part by anxiety about the future.
Many Ukrainians expect Russia to attack again even if the war is halted, said Mykola Davydiuk, a political scientist and author of How Putin’s Propaganda Works. In that scenario, he said, voters want a leader who understands how to prepare for – and deter – another war.
Zaluzhny has pushed back against speculation he is preparing for a political run. “I do not recognise any idea of holding elections during the war,” he wrote in an October Facebook post.
“I am not creating any headquarters or parties and, as a matter of principle, have no ties to any political force. As long as I have the ability to serve the state, I will do so.”
Ukrainian law prohibits presidential elections under martial law, and democracy experts have noted the seeming absurdity of Putin complaining that Zelenskyy has stayed in office beyond the normal length of a term because of a war that Russia started, while Putin rewrote Russia’s constitution to eliminate term limits and has long won elections widely derided as neither free nor fair.
Zaluzhny emerged as a national hero after the Ukrainian Army thwarted Moscow’s expectation of a swift victory. Several towns and cities have named streets after him, a sign of how strongly his wartime leadership resonated.
“After the battle for Kyiv, there was this certain realisation that the Ukrainian Army was in hands of a very competent man who could make decisions quite swiftly, but also who had all the features that good Western military leaders have,” said Natia Seskuria, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute.
She noted that Zaluzhny helped modernise Ukraine’s military by embracing Nato standards and delegating authority – a departure from Soviet-style command.
After the failed counter-offensive left Ukraine’s forces considerably depleted, Zaluzhny proposed calling up as many as half a million troops, while Zelenskyy argued that level was unrealistic, given limited funds and resources.
Several reports said that tensions between the men had been building for months.
Announcing Zaluzhny’s departure, Zelenskyy posted a picture of them shaking hands, saying they had discussed “renewed leadership” and that he had asked the general to remain “part of the team”. His reassignment to London was widely seen as difficult, for him and for many Ukrainians.
“He’s a military man, and Zelenskyy removed him from the job of his life,” Davydiuk said. “But he never said anything bad – he respects the position of the presidency and the state institution.”
Zaluzhny’s removal from military command did not result in open friction with Zelenskyy, though behind closed doors Ukrainian officials say Zaluzhny was kept under close supervision by Andriy Yermak, the powerful presidential chief of staff felled by the recent corruption scandal.
According to the Guardian, Zaluzhny declined a call from US Vice-President JD Vance during the tense episode last year between Zelenskyy, Trump, and Vance in the Oval Office, a sign of the retired general’s caution.
“He doesn’t want to be seen to be seeking attention,” said Myroslava Gongadze, a Ukrainian journalist who is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Centre. “He understands Ukraine has to maintain the look of a united front.”
His recent Daily Telegraph article avoided any criticism of Zelenskyy and instead focused on Russia’s attrition strategy. Zaluzhny wrote that postwar peace could offer “a chance for political change, for deep reforms”.
In Britain, he has built strong ties in defence circles – standard for Ukrainian ambassadors, but also reflective of his interest in modernising Ukraine’s military and analysing the future of warfare.
Asked whether he might one day run for president, analysts offer cautious predictions.
Lutsevych, of Chatham House, said many political factions would vie for him. “The liberals, conservatives, right-wing groups … all of them will be trying to lure him into their camp. Which pathway he might choose is not clear.”
For now, she said, that moment has not arrived.
“Now, he’s doing the thinking,” Lutsevych said. “But all of this is still on the back burner.”
- Serhiy Morgunov contributed to this report.
Sign up to Herald Premium Editor’s Picks, delivered straight to your inbox every Friday. Editor-in-Chief Murray Kirkness picks the week’s best features, interviews and investigations. Sign up for Herald Premium here.