Zaluzhnyi Was Not at Zelenskyy’s Meeting with the UK Defense Secretary. What’s the Reason?

5 August, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, met in Kyiv with British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who is visiting Ukraine for the first time in this position. The head of state reported this on Telegram.

According to Zelensky, he informed the British minister about the consequences of the latest shelling and Ukraine's needs, as the aggressor country Russia, in his words, aims to significantly increase ballistic missile production by winter.

During the meeting, the parties discussed strengthening the protection of Ukrainian cities from ballistic threats, possibilities for joint production of certain types of weapons, and sanctions against Russian companies involved in ballistic missile production.

However, at this meeting there was no Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, the former commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. As Zelensky's communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn explained, this is not required by diplomatic protocol, reports the correspondent of the publication Gordon.

According to Lytvyn, the established practice almost always involves the participation of the Ukrainian ambassador only during meetings with the president or prime minister of another country. In particular, Zaluzhnyi was present at Zelensky's meeting with the British prime minister.

"Each ambassador independently determines and informs what will be, if anything. This is an initiative story at a level below the prime minister or president," Lytvyn explained.

He added that, according to available information, Zaluzhnyi on that day attended events of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs within the annual conference of Ukrainian ambassadors.

At the same time, in Zaluzhnyi's circle, it was stated that the ambassador was not informed about Zelensky's meeting with Streeting.

Zaluzhnyi's press secretary Oksana torop told European Pravda in an interview that the ambassador was not invited to the event. At the same time, according to sources in the media, which have not officially confirmed this, Zaluzhnyi learned about the meeting only after it had taken place.