KIEV, September 22. /TASS/. The attack on Sergey Shefir, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s first aide, was a brazen attempt to kill a key member of the team, Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to the presidential office’s chief, said in a commentary to the Ukrainian media outlet Vesti on Wednesday.
"Obviously, this overt, deliberate and extremely violent attack with the use of an automatic weapon cannot be defined as anything other than the blatant attempted murder of a key member of the team," he said.
Podolyak pointed out that he links the attempt on Sherif’s life to Zelensky’s politics.
"We unconditionally associate this attack with an aggressive and even bellicose campaign against the active policy of the head of state. The policy seeking to considerably reduce the traditional influence of shadow oligarchs on social processes as well as to eradicate the political and financial groups that outspokenly work for our external opponents," he stressed.
Podolyak emphasized that the government’s line would remain the same.
"The president’s policy aimed at the fundamental transformation of the state will remain unchanged, while the unconditional response to any criminal actions against public officials will be the even tougher anti-oligarchic and anti-criminal decisions of the government," the member of the Ukrainian leader’s office said.
Earlier on Wednesday, more than ten bullets hit a car carrying Sergei Shefir, the first aide to the Ukrainian president. He was not hurt, but his driver was badly wounded and rushed to hospital. The Ukrainian Interior Ministry confirmed that the car came under gunfire. Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova said that a criminal case was opened into the attack, under a preliminary charge of "the attempt to kill two or more persons."
Shefir is believed to be an old friend of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky. According to media reports, he is responsible for Zelensky’s daily schedule. Shefir is the head and founder of Kvartal-95 Studio.