- Ukraine's military shared a video this week of Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi engaged in war efforts.
- A mysterious Baby Yoda patch could be spotted on his uniform, and its not exactly clear why.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's "Iron General," was spotted this week wearing an unusual new patch. Military uniform patches come in all sorts of shapes and sizes and can carry a wide range of meaning, but his is something of a mystery at the moment.
Ukraine's General Staff of the Armed Forces published a video on Monday showing Zaluzhnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces, sporting a Baby Yoda patch in the center of his uniform as he discusses details on the war with other top officials.
The new video includes scenes of Zaluzhnyi hovering over blurred-out information and walking alongside individuals whose faces have been censored. A clock on the wall at one point in the video indicates that the footage is from Saturday.
"Together with the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Serhiy Shaptala, conducted work in groups of troops that perform the most difficult tasks in the areas where the fiercest battles are taking place," Zaluzhnyi said, according to a statement shared to Twitter by Ukraine's General Staff.
"The enemy is trying to prevent the advance of our units," he continued. "For this, it deployed a system of fortifications with dense mining of the terrain and a large number of reserves. Despite the furious resistance of the occupiers, our soldiers are doing everything possible to liberate Ukrainian territory. The operation continues as planned. Thanks to everyone who brings Victory closer!"
It was not immediately clear why Zaluzhnyi paid tribute to Baby Yoda — a fan-favorite character from Disney's "Star Wars" spin-off series "The Mandalorian" actually name Grogu — on his uniform, but the military's video of him doing so immediately stoked intrigue and admiration on social media.
"May the force be with Ukraine!" the country's official Twitter account wrote above a screengrab that showed Zaluzhnyi's patch. "Retweet if spotted Mr. Baby Yoda."
—The New Voice of Ukraine (@NewVoiceUkraine) June 20, 2023
Beyond sparking curiosity, the video also further quelled Russian rumors that Zaluzhnyi, who has been at the helm of Ukraine's war efforts since July 2021, months before Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of its neighbor, had been killed at some point during fighting in the Kherson region last month.
Since then, with Zaluzhnyi still directing operations, Ukrainian forces have begun their much-anticipated counteroffensive and have made small territorial gains in eastern and southern Ukraine. Kyiv's General Staff said in a Tuesday Facebook update that missile and artillery units have carried out several strikes on strategic Russian positions, striking control points, ammunition warehouses, firing locations, and air-defense systems.
"In some areas our warriors are moving forward, in some areas they are defending their positions and resisting the occupiers' assaults and intensified attacks," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address to the nation this week. "We have no lost positions. Only liberated ones. They have only losses," he claimed.