Zelenskyy's aid resigns for missile confusion

Published January 17th, 2023 - 10:10 GMT
residential building
Rescuers work on a residential building destroyed after a missile strike, in Dnipro on January 15, 2023. (Photo by SERGEI CHUZAVKOV / AFP)

ALBAWABA - Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, resigned on Tuesday for what he described as a "fundamental mistake."

In a Facebook post, Arestovych wrote: "I would like to show an example of civilized behavior. A mistake in principle, therefore, resignation."

Initially, Arestovych said that a Russian missile targeted the building. But he later explained that Ukraine’s air defenses shot down the Russian missile in Dnipro, central Ukraine.

The fallout from the missile hit the residential building, killing at least 40 people, while nearly 30 others remain missing.

BCC confirmed the number of Sunday's killing. It reported that 75 were injured in the residential building attack in Dnipro.

In a YouTube live stream, the Ukrainian official apologized to the victims and their relatives over the tragic incident.

He added: "The residents of the Dnieper and everyone who was deeply wounded by the prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile hitting a residential building."

On Monday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres decried the missile attack on a Ukrainian building over the weekend.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" in Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022.

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