Adviser explains why former Commander-in-chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi hardly ever spoke to media

The reasons why Valerii Zaluzhnyi almost never gave interviews or held press conferences when he was commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were lack of time, the need to keep state secrets, and "jealousy" from the Office of the President.

Source: Liudmyla Dolhonovska, former strategic communications adviser to Zaluzhnyi, in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda

Quote: "He was pretty indifferent to it [media activity – ed.]. When I brought him media monitoring and quotes at the beginning [of my work with Zaluzhnyi], he didn’t even look at them. He never asked how his posts or comments were received.

There was no ban [on interviews and press conferences – ed.] from the President’s Office. I don't even know where those assumptions came from. But there was a certain amount of jealousy, measuring ratings and popularity. And that was indeed a factor in why Valerii Zaluzhnyi did not really want media attention too much."

Details: Another reason why Zaluzhnyi did not give interviews or press conferences, Dolhonovska said, was that he would not have been able to answer most of the journalists' questions publicly due to the constraints imposed by state secrecy.

Dolhonovska noted, however, that Zaluzhnyi constantly spoke with journalists off the record, and would "answer questions very clearly and openly".

Background:

• Valerii Zaluzhnyi was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine from 27 July 2021 to 8 February 2024.
• During the full-scale invasion he gave only a few interviews, only one of which was for the Ukrainian media, and one briefing on mobilisation.

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