Valerii Zaluzhnyi

Valerii Zaluzhnyi is a Ukrainian four-star general who led the Armed Forces of Ukraine as Commander-in-Chief from July 2021 to February 2024, a tenure that coincided with the full-scale Russian invasion. He simultaneously held a seat on Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. He currently serves as Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom.

As commander during the most intense phase of the Ukraine conflict, Zaluzhnyi oversaw a military that became a proving ground for drone warfare, loitering munitions, and AI-assisted targeting at scale — making his strategic decisions and public assessments directly relevant to how autonomous systems are being integrated into modern combined-arms operations.