"If the structural system that they [the military] are proposing today reduces the distance between the general and the soldier, and if this bureaucracy is minimized, then let them do it to make it happen. [...] An officer must see the soldier. A general who has not been in the trenches is not a general to me, personally. Regardless of experience. With all due respect," said the president.
He emphasized that "the most difficult situation today is at the front line, in the trenches."
Zelensky noted that the issue of reducing bureaucracy in the army should be addressed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky.
"Syrsky is constantly at the front, always traveling. We communicate with him daily, twice a day. He has a morning and evening report. But still, that is not enough. Generals must be in the trenches. This is the kind of war we are in. The moral state of the military is the most important thing," the president believes.