Zelensky adviser resigns after blaming Ukraine for Dnipro bombing

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An adviser to Ukrainian President Voldodymyr Zelensky’s office tendered his resignation on Tuesday following a public backlash to his remarks suggesting that a Russian missile attack that killed 44 civilians in the city of Dnipro was caused by a counter-attack. Ukrainian attack.

Oleksiy Arestovych posted what appeared to be a handwritten resignation letter on his Telegram channel with text that read, “Wrote a resignation letter. I want to show an example of civilized behavior: make a fundamental mistake, then quit.

Serhyi Nikhiporov, Zelensky’s press secretary, said the president had accepted Arestovitch’s resignation, according to Ukrainska Pravda.

Arestovych served as an adviser to the office of the President of Ukraine and is known for his public stance on social media, where his YouTube channel has more than 1.6 million subscribers and garners between 50,000 and 200,000 views per video.

In another Telegram post, Arestovych said he made “a big mistake” when broadcasting a live YouTube segment, apologizing to the victims, their relatives and the residents of Dnipro and “everyone who were deeply hurt by my prematurely mistaken version of why the Russian missile hit a residential building.

Ukrainian officials said a Russian Kh-22 missile hit a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro, Ukraine’s fourth-largest city, on Saturday. The Ukrainian Air Force tweeted that Ukraine “does not have the means to shoot down such missiles”.

On January 14, a 🇷🇺 Х-22 missile hit a residential building in the city of Dnipro. 🇬🇧 does not have the means to shoot down such missiles. To shoot down such missiles, we need systems like Patriot PAC-3 and SAMP-T. All perpetrators of terror will be punished!

— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) January 15, 2023

At least 44 people are believed to have been killed by the missile, marking one of Russia’s deadliest strikes as it has increasingly hit Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and residential and civilian areas since October.

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Arestovych’s remarks in his YouTube segment appeared to have been seized upon by Russian officials, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reportedly saying Russian attacks ‘do not hit residential buildings’ and suggesting Ukrainian air defenses had caused damage to the building, claiming that such a conclusion was reached by “some representatives of the Ukrainian side”.

Some Ukrainian parliamentarians reportedly signed a petition calling for Arestovitch’s removal as a government official.

—Updated 12:02 p.m.

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