UKRAINE’S President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he was weighing a possible dismissal of the country’s top military officer, a prospect that has worried Kiev’s Western allies.

Asked whether he was considering sacking General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Mr Zelensky told Italian RAI TV in an interview released late Sunday that he was thinking about it as part of a broader issue of setting the country’s path. 

The president said that “a reset, a new beginning is necessary” and it is “not about a single person but about the direction of the country’s leadership.”

Mr Zelensky said: “I’m thinking about this replacement, but you can’t say here we replaced a single person. 

“When we talk about this, I mean a replacement of a series of state leaders, not just in a single sector like the military. If we want to win we must all push in the same direction, convinced of victory, we cannot be discouraged, let our arms fall, we must have the right positive energy.”

The tensions between the president and Gen Zaluznyi have allegedly been rising as the war approaches its second anniversary and the country grapples with dire ammunition and personnel shortages following a failed summer counter-offensive.