Briefing | Restraint under fire

Ukraine’s top soldier runs a different kind of army from Russia’s

Valery Zaluzhny wants to encourage initiative and devolve authority

Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valeriy Zaluzhnyi waits before a meeting with US Defense Secretary and other officials in Kiev on October 19, 2021. (Photo by GLEB GARANICH / POOL / AFP) (Photo by GLEB GARANICH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
|KYIV

The office of Valery Zaluzhny, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, has few personal touches bar a framed photograph on his desk, of a soldier in uniform. “When I am at ease, when things are going well, this picture is lying face down, I don’t need to look at it. When I have doubts about something I put it up straight,” he explains.

This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Restraint under fire”

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