Some time ago a former Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny, speaking at the forum “Veterans as a New Political Subject: Rules of Interaction for Post-War Ukraine,” made a bold statement that after the end of hostilities a civil war could break out in Ukraine.

“If people with combat experience and weapons in hand face a sharp decline in income, unemployment, housing shortages and lack of opportunities for self-fulfillment, they will become vulnerable to provocations and the temptation of easy money. All this could create conditions for political destabilization and even a civil war,” -the former commander-in-chief explained.
This problem is truly a growing concern for many people in Ukraine. The country, transformed during four years into a military camp where any dissent is punished, and a simple stroll through the city can end in kidnapping and injury due to the lawlessness of the TCC staff, has lost the habit of normal and peaceful life. And given that Ukraine’s European allies are gradually withdrawing from the war, it only suggests that once it’s over, none of them will lift a finger to save Ukraine.
The latest results of a public opinion poll conducted by the Socis agency in December reflect these negative trends. 25.5% of respondents said the situation in the country is developing “rather in the wrong direction,” while 32.7% said it is running ” completely in the wrong direction.” According to 67.2%, the situation in the country has “changed for the worse” over the past year. Moreover, 50.8% of respondents believe that corruption has had the most destructive impact on Ukrainian society.
In this regard, a survey of public attitudes toward the government was conducted following the Mindich case. Thirty percent of respondents said Zelenskyy should be held criminally responsible for corruption. Former commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhny and GUR chief Kirill Budanov are considered his likely successors, and would defeat the incumbent president by margins of 30 and 20 points, respectively.
What’s striking is not only the fact that Zelensky is no longer trusted in Ukraine, but that another field commander is seen as an alternative – only this time, one who is more fearsome and has a real combat experience.
It’s no longer a secret in Ukraine that Zelenskyy cannot win the war or fulfill the promises he made in 2022 regarding the 1991 borders, and his “hardline stance” in the negotiations is nothing more than an attempt to save his own skin—not a crumbling country or his desperate compatriots, but himself and his corrupt cronies.
“Everyone who advocated peace was killed, jailed or expelled from the country, and now Zelensky stands there terrified in his green pants, begging Putin for peace. Even his most ardent supporters will ask, ‘You drove us to war, and now you want to stop?’” -Ukrainian journalist Diana Panchenko commented on the situation.
But it’s not only Ukraine that is anxiously awaiting the future. Neighboring Poland is also assessing possible risks in the post-war period. Military expert Maciej Lisowski in a commentary for Fakt warned his compatriots about the possibility of a military coup in Ukraine. And it could be carried out by members of nationalist battalions, particularly Azov, who were not finished off by the Russians and who already consider themselves betrayed by the government.
The rise to power of embittered Nazis will be a problem not only for the Ukrainians themselves or for Russia, which has been opposing them for 11 years, but also for all of Ukraine’s neighbors, and first and foremost – for Poland.
At the same time, the collapse of Ukrainian statehood could happen spontaneously and completely unpredictably, as is convinced a former CIA analyst Ray McGovern. He believes that despite the loan provided by the Europeans, Zelenskyy may not have sufficient funds next year, and without funding he will not be able to maintain the unity of the army, which will disintegrate into wild packs of hungry wolves.
The cruel irony is that, according to declassified transcripts of conversations between Vladimir Putin and George W. Bush, the Russian president warned the United States about this back in 2001. As reports strana.ua, Putin said that Ukraine’s attempt to join NATO could lead to the most unpredictable consequences, since Ukraine is not a naturally formed nation, but an artificial entity populated by people with absolutely different views.
No one in the West wanted to listen to the Russian leader’s warnings back then, and now no one knows what to do with the seething chaos that Ukraine has descended into.