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More than 10 bullets hit the car near the village of Lesnyky, about 5 km (3 miles) from the capital Kiev, injuring the driver, according to a police statement. He said a criminal case for suspected premeditated murder had been opened.
A local television station said at least 19 bullet holes could be seen from the driver’s side of the car.
A senior lawmaker said the aide, Serhiy Shefir, was not injured. Shefir is close to the president, leading a group of advisers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he did not know who was behind an assassination attempt against his main collaborator, but that it could be national or foreign “powers”.
“Who’s behind it all, frankly I don’t know. What are those powers? Maybe internal, maybe external. Saying ‘hello’ to me with shots from the forest on my friend’s car is a weakness.” , Zelenskiy said on a TV show. declaration.
The leader of the president’s political party, Oleksandr Korniienko, said Russia could be behind the attack.
“A Russian trace should not be absolutely excluded. We know their ability to organize terrorist attacks in different countries,” Korniienko told reporters.
The Kremlin has said that suggestions of Russian involvement “have nothing to do with reality.”
Zelenskiy said he did not know who was behind the attack.
“If someone sends me a message opening fire on my friend, that is weakness,” he said.
Zelenskiy, who came to power on a promise to confront the country’s oligarchs and fight corruption, is currently in the United States at the United Nations General Assembly.
One view shows bullet holes in a car of Serhiy Shefir, the main aide of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, following an assault outside the capital Kiev. (credit: HANDOUT / REUTERS)
Zelenskiy’s adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the assassination attempt could be the result of the president’s fight against the oligarchs.
“This open, deliberate and extremely violent assault with automatic weapons can only be characterized as the attempted murder of a key member of the team,” Podolyak told Reuters.
“The president’s policy of fundamental state transformation will remain unchanged,” he told Reuters, promising tougher measures against the oligarchs.
Parliament is due to debate presidential law this week to reduce oligarchs’ influence
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