"Iron General" is 50: how did Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, look like in his youth. Photo

On July 8, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, celebrates his birthday. The "Iron General," who frightens all enemies turned 50 years old. During the full-scale aggression, the military chief made it into the hundred most influential people in the world, donated a million dollars to the Ukrainian army and received worldwide recognition. As a young boy, he told the teacher in his first lesson that he dreamed of becoming a soldier to defend his native country.

OBOZREVATEL wants to demonstrate what the legendary Ukrainian commander looked like as a child and how he changed over the years. We will also tell you how he built his career and what is known about his family (to see the photo, scroll to the end of the page) .

Images of young Valerii Zaluzhnyi captivate Ukrainians. In the network they write that his facial expression has not changed and that from the cradle it was clear that he would not become a soldier, but a general. You can look at the photo of young Zaluzhnyi forever, the ladies say.

The commander-in-chief's teachers tell us: Zaluzhnyi could not be called a diligent student. But he never gave up on his dream, and after the mechanical engineering college he entered the Odesa Institute of the Ground Forces, where he received a diploma with honors.

His ascent up the career ladder began at the earliest rungs: from platoon and company commander to battalion commander over eight years of service.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi has been married for over 20 years. His wife's name is Elena and he rarely talks about his personal life. It is known that the spouses are raising two daughters: the older one followed in her father's footsteps and works as a serviceman, and the younger one is studying at a medical university.

The Iron General once told Dmytro Komarov in an interview: "My family has hardly seen me since 2014. I was telling, I don't remember to whom. Ah, I will say, to the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of America. I say, I left in the summer, July 2014. Came back three months later for two weeks. Went away again. Came back nine months later. They haven't seen me...". Zaluzhnyi's relatives are sympathetic to such a schedule of the head of the family and are incredibly appreciative of every minute spent with him.

Earlier OBOZREVATEL wrote that Ukrainian soldiers touchingly congratulated Valerii Zaluzhnyi on his anniversary. The orchestra of the 93rd separate mechanized brigade "Kholodnyi Yar" performed a touching song about "father Zaluzhnyi" and the big family of the AFU.

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