Shots fired at car

Shots fired at car carrying Ukrainian President Zelenskiy’s closest confidant

The target remained unharmed, but his driver was wounded in the attack.

BY LOUIS WESTENDARP

Over a dozen shots were fired at a car carrying Serhiy Shefir, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s principal aide, on Wednesday morning in what senior officials have described as an assassination attempt.

“This open, deliberate and extremely violent assault with automatic weapons cannot be qualified any differently than as an attempted killing of a key team member,” Zelenskiy advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters.

While Shefir remained unharmed, the driver of the vehicle was wounded and hospitalized, Ukrainian media reports.

The attack happened in Lisnyky, near Kyiv, at 10 a.m. According to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, 7.62-millimeter automatic weaponry was used in the attack. The police are searching for the attackers and have opened a criminal case on suspicion of premeditated murder.

Zelenskiy, who is currently in the United States at the U.N. General Assembly, promised to fight corruption and take on oligarchic structures in Ukraine. His advisor, Podolyak, said the assassination attempt could result from Zelenskiy’s fight against these.

“We emphasize that the president’s policy aimed at fundamental transformation of the state will remain unchanged,” said Podolyak.