Comments come as speculation continues president is preparing to fire commander of armed forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has admitted publicly for the first time that he is seeking to replace the country’s most senior military commander, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

“A reset, a new beginning is necessary,” Zelensky told the Italian outlet Rai News in an interview broadcast on Sunday night, when asked about rumours of Zaluzhnyi’s dismissal.

Zaluzhnyi, who has led the armed forces since before Russia’s full-scale invasion, is a largely popular figure among soldiers and society at large, meaning replacing him could be a politically risky decision.