Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to the Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, announced on Facebook that he had submitted his resignation. “I want to offer an example of civilized behavior: I made a crucial mistake, and therefore, I must step down,” he wrote.
Arestovych posted a photograph of his resignation letter addressed to the Head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak. The document is dated January 17.
Earlier today, Arestovych published an apology for saying that the Russian missile that had ravaged the apartment block in Dnipro had been shot down by Ukrainian air defense. “I made a serious mistake in a live broadcast. It does not matter why and how the audience heard it but I will take on a more rigorous approach to the information I share in the future,” the advisor to the presidential office wrote.
Arestovych expressed confidence that his statement would have no “reputational or legal ramifications” for Ukraine and emphasized that the issue was being “purposefully hyped up” by certain forces. “Moscow is hyping it up to diminish Ukraine’s media credibility (including for Russians). Meanwhile, the Ukrainian opposition is using the opportunity to attack the government and gain traction during the war, with the upcoming election in mind.
Arestovych said that the Russian missile hit the residential unit in Dnipro after being shot down by Ukrainian armed forces in a YouTube stream with Mark Feygin. The AFU rejected this claim, stating that they “do not possess weapons capable of shooting down this type of missile”.
Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov harshly criticized Arestovych for this version. In his Telegram channel, he called the advisor to the presidential office “a pompous ass and a potty mouth” and called on the SBU to look into the stream.
The Russian missile in question hit a multi-story apartment block in Dnipro on January 14, destroying dozens of apartments. The latest reports suggest a death toll of 40. The search and rescue operation is still underway.