By the end of this week, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will sign a decree dismissing the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyy, CNN reports , citing a source, UNN writes.
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One of CNN's sources said that no official announcement of Zaluzhny's dismissal has been made yet, but a presidential decree is expected by the end of the week.
According to one of the sources, at a small meeting in his office on Monday, which was also attended by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, the President said that "he decided to dismiss the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces."
In the conversation, Zelensky offered Zaluzhnyi another position, but he rejected it, CNN reports. Then the President emphasized that the fact that Zaluzhnyi refused a new position does not change the fact that he is being fired from his current one.
One source told CNN that two names are being discussed as possible contenders for the post of Commander-in-Chief.
One of them is Kirill Budanov, the head of the GRU. In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, when asked if he was going to become the new Commander-in-Chief, Budanov said no, suggesting that he would hardly be talking to CNN at this point if such an appointment had just been made.
"We are in a state of war, and all sides are using all available means, including information warfare," the DIU chief added.
The other candidate is Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrsky, Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.