[6] He has received praise for his skill at "adapting to a fast-changing battlefield" through effective delegation and information gathering during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In 2007, he graduated with a gold medal and was appointed Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander of the 24th Mechanized Brigade in Yavoriv, Lviv Oblast.

[17] According to an interview with The Washington Post, in 2019, Zaluzhnyi was detained at the airport in Brussels, where he had arrived to participate in the NATO summit.

[21][22] On 27 July 2021, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appointed Zaluzhnyi as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,[23] replacing General Ruslan Khomchak in this position.

[27] Representing a new generation of Ukrainian officers, Zaluzhnyi has radically departed from established Soviet military practices.

Regarding his priorities as Commander-in-Chief, Zaluzhnyi said in 2021: The overall course of reforming Ukraine's Armed Forces in line with NATO principles and standards remains irreversible.

International experts and analysts have given Zaluzhnyi high marks for the effectiveness of his command at the front against the Russian military.

[32] Reporting by the Washington Post[33] in 2023 and The Wall Street Journal[34] in 2024, allege that Zaluzhnyi and other Ukrainians carried out the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.

[42] He told The Economist in an interview published on 1 November 2023, "Just like in the First World War we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate.

"[47] On 2 February 2024, Zaluzhnyi wrote that "the weakness of the international sanctions' regime means Russia … is still able to deploy its military-industrial complex in pursuit of a war of attrition against us.

We must acknowledge the significant advantage enjoyed by [Russia] in mobilizing human resources and how that compares with the inability of state institutions in Ukraine to improve the manpower levels of our armed forces without the use of unpopular measures.

"[48] He concluded that "the number one priority here is mastery of an entire arsenal of (relatively) cheap, modern and highly effective, unmanned vehicles and other technological means.

"[49] On 8 February 2024, Zaluzhnyi was replaced as Commander-in-Chief by Oleksandr Syrskyi, previously the commander of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.