Top adviser to Ukraine president survives assassination bid

MOSCOW — A apical Ukrainian statesmanlike aide, Serhiy Shefir, narrowly survived assassination erstwhile 1 oregon much attackers opened occurrence connected his car with a barrage of astatine slightest 18 bullets Wednesday.

The onslaught took spot connected a forested agelong of roadworthy adjacent Lesnyky village, extracurricular Kyiv the capital. President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was successful New York astatine the clip of the attack, announced helium would instrumentality to Kyiv aft addressing the United Nations General Assembly aboriginal Wednesday.

Dozens of constabulary fanned retired to comb the country of the attacks for clues.

Shefir, 57, who is precise adjacent to the president, was the shaper connected Zelensky’s TV drama show, Servant of the People, successful which helium starred earlier being elected president successful 2019.

Born successful the aforesaid concern city, Kryvyi Rih, he, Zelensky and others co-founded the accumulation institution that made the drama amusement astir a humble and honorable antheral who becomes president.

National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said constabulary were pursuing 3 main lines of probe — that Shefir was attacked due to the fact that of his authorities duties, that it was an effort to enactment unit connected the country’s apical enactment oregon it was an effort to destabilize the governmental concern successful the country.

“Among different things, the engagement of overseas peculiar services is nether scrutiny,” helium said astatine a quality conference.

From New York, Zelensky promised journalists a beardown response.

“Frankly speaking, I don’t cognize who is down this, for now, what benignant of forces are possibly progressive successful this, interior oregon external. But I don’t see them forces, due to the fact that it is weakness to nonstop maine a connection with shots from the wood into my friend’s car,” Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president has undertaken respective hard reforms including cleaning up the country’s corrupt judicial strategy and diluting the sweeping powerfulness of the billionaire oligarchs implicit the economy.

Shefir’s operator was changeable 3 times but survived and was hospitalized. Shefir told a quality league that the operator saved some their lives by continuing to thrust for immoderate region contempt being changeable and a tyre was punctured successful the attack.

“I deliberation helium was severely wounded. He was successful large pain,” said Shefir. “This is simply a heroic act. At first, successful shock, helium tried to stop, but I deliberation if we had stopped past we would not beryllium talking to you now. I said, ‘drive,’ and we drove off.”

Shefir said helium drives himself to enactment astir of the time, but present helium would commencement traveling with a information detail.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky told the quality league that the shots were expected to halt the car. If it was stopped aft 50 oregon 100 meters “the consequences would person been unequivocally tragic. The information that the operator near the portion of occurrence was what saved his life,” helium said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor successful the statesmanlike administration, said the onslaught could person been designed to deter Zelensky’s attempts to bounds the powerfulness of the oligarchs.

“This argumentation aims to palpably trim the accepted power of [oligarchs] connected societal processes and to destruct the governmental and fiscal groups that openly service our overseas opponents,” Podolyak told Interfax Ukraine.

In May, Ukraine’s authoritative wide indicted almighty pro-Kremlin oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, a adjacent state of Russian President Vladimir Putin, for treason and a tribunal placed him nether location arrest.

Oleksandr Kornienko, the caput of Zelensky's governmental party, said Russian engagement was possible.

“A Russian hint should not beryllium perfectly ruled out. We cognize their quality to signifier violent attacks successful antithetic countries,” helium told reporters.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that speculation Russia whitethorn person been down the onslaught had “nothing to bash with reality.”

Zelensky, meanwhile, vowed to property up with his reforms undeterred.

“It does not impact the spot of our team, the people that I person chosen with my squad — to change, to cleanable up our economy, to combat transgression and ample influential fiscal groups,” helium said, adding the Ukrainian radical had fixed him a mandate for change.

Zelensky came to powerfulness promising to extremity a warfare successful eastbound Ukraine wherever Russian-backed separatists broke distant successful 2014, but bid talks involving Russia person stalled.

He has been pushing for NATO rank without progress. Ukraine faced a monolithic Russian subject buildup connected its borders earlier this year, with Moscow making it wide it would not tolerate Ukraine joining the Western subject alliance.