Valery Zaluzhny, Ukrainian Army Commander, out of service due to serious cranial injury

Valery Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, was wounded during the Russian missile strike that destroyed the command post of the Ukrainian army near Kherson, RIA Novosti reports with reference to a representative of Russian law enforcement agencies. The unnamed source received information about Zaluzhny's condition from his own sources in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Zaluzhny suffered a closed craniocerebral injury and multiple shrapnel wounds. According to the source, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had a craniotomy. Valery Zaluzhny will not be able to continue his army service, the source said.

"In Nikolaev, Zaluzhny received first aid to stop bleeding. At a Kyiv military hospital, he underwent a craniotomy,” a representative of law enforcement agencies said.

Earlier, Russian military correspondent Andrei Rudenko, citing sources in the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that Zaluzhny's condition was critical as a result of the attack.

Zaluzhny disappeared from media space on May 8. On May 19, Zaluzhny made his first appearance in the last few weeks at a conference of the Odessa Law Academy.

On May 21, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Anna Malyar said that Zaluzhny was still performing his duties despite media reports of his injury.

Ukraine responds to rumours on Zaluzhny's head injury

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said after reports about the cranial injury of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny that President Volodymyr Zelensky heard a report from Zaluzhny on Wednesday, May 24.

“The President of Ukraine, there Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky heard reports from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and other members of the Chief of Staff,” he wrote.