A top aide of Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian President, identified as Serhiy Shefir on Wednesday morning, escaped an assassination attempt by unknown gunmen.
BBC News reports that Shefir’s car was struck with a volley of bullets as he left his home south of the capital, Kyiv.
The attack which left the driver wounded, was said by Mr Zelensky to have been a foreign or domestic attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has, therefore, promised investigation into the attack after the top aide survived the assassination attempt.
The Kremlin categorically denied any Russian involvement.
She fir, while describing the moment the bullets hit his vehicle, said “we had to speed up a little, it was scary.”
He praised his driver, saying he managed to continue to drive after the “shots rang out”.
Mr Shefir suggested he was targeted in a bid to intimidate the “highest echelon of power” and that such an attempt would not work.
“One has to understand that our president [Zelensky] is very strong-willed, he has a spine and cannot be intimidated,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov said any suggestion of a link with Moscow bore “the signs of an excessively excited emotional state”.
“Unfortunately nowadays, whatever happens in Ukraine, none of the current politicians is able to rule out the Russian trace,” he said.
Zelensky who spoke from New York, United States, where he is currently participating in the ongoing United Nations General Assembly said, “Saying ‘hello’ to me by shooting out of the forest at my friend’s car is weak. The response will be strong.”
Police investigating the shooting, near the village of Lisnyky, said they were exploring the possibility that Mr Shefir may have been targeted for his work, or as part of a bid to destabilise the government.
The attack came a few days before Zelensky’s bill to rein in the Ukraine’s powerful oligarchs is debated in parliament.
Ukraine’s oligarchs are a small group of super-rich businessmen who dominate the country’s economic and political life.
