Valerii Zaluzhnyi, former commander-in-chief and present ambassador to the U.Okay., described the joint Ukrainian-U.S. headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany, as a "secret weapon" for planning navy operations through the battle.
"This headquarters has actually turn out to be a secret weapon for our companions and me in planning operations and formulating the necessities for his or her implementation," Zaluzhnyi mentioned in a put up on Fb on April 8, following a March 29 investigation by the New York Instances (NYT) into the ability.
Zaluzhnyi mentioned the coordination middle initially took form in April 2022 on the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, earlier than shifting to Wiesbaden.
He mentioned the headquarters allowed Ukrainian and NATO planners to evaluate operational wants in actual time and form logistics accordingly.
"Over time, we realized that we wanted a joint operational headquarters with our companions to evaluate the wants for weapons and tools based mostly on the planning of operations," he wrote.
Zaluzhnyi mentioned the necessity grew to become crucial in the summertime of 2022 when Western companions questioned the utility of some weapons Kyiv was requesting.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy
The ensuing Wiesbaden headquarters, supported by the U.Okay., enabled the planning of operations, coordination of logistics, and NATO-standard formulation of necessities.
Zaluzhnyi mentioned it helped conduct battle video games, forecast battlefield wants, and relay provide calls for on to Washington and European capitals.
The NYT report detailed the existence of "Job Pressure Dragon," an American-led initiative based mostly in Wiesbaden that offered Ukrainian forces with real-time intelligence, together with coordinates of Russian navy positions — even inside Russian territory.
The initiative aimed to counterbalance Russia's benefits in troop numbers and firepower.
Every day, U.S. and Ukrainian officers collectively chosen targets, analyzing satellite tv for pc imagery and intercepted communications and digital indicators to determine Russian deployments, which had been then shared with Ukraine's navy.
The NYT article additionally revealed tensions and confusion inside the Biden administration after Ukraine sank the Moskva, Russia's Black Sea flagship, in April 2022.
In response to the report, American and Ukrainian naval officers had been on an intelligence sharing call when the previous seen the ship sinking on radar screens.
"Oh my God. Thanks quite a bit. Bye," the Ukrainians reportedly replied.
It additionally reported that Ukraine's 2023 counteroffensive towards Melitopol was sidelined in favor of the protracted Bakhmut marketing campaign.
Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as commander-in-chief in February 2024 and changed by Oleksandr Syrskyi. The transfer adopted months of hypothesis and media studies citing inner disagreements over Ukraine's battle technique.
The previous commander-in-chief assumed the function of Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK on July 11, 2024.
The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy