Assassination attempt targets Zelensky aide and confidant

Serhiy Shefir, the first aide to and long-time
confidant of President Volodymyr Zelensky, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt
on Sept. 22. His car was fired upon as he was travelling through a wooded area
on the way to Kyiv. Shefir escaped harm, but his driver received three gunshot
wounds to the leg.

People’s Servant faction leader in the Verkhovna Rada
David Arakhamia told reporters on Sept. 22 that he sees the possible
perpetrators as being 1) smugglers or crime bosses, 2) Russia-related, or 3)
connected to those affected by Zelensky’s anti-oligarch push.

Zelensky returned to Kyiv from New York immediately
after giving a speech at the United Nations General Assembly. During the
speech, he brought up the attack, stating that, “This is the price of changes
in the country. This is the price of reform,” ukrinform.net reported.

James Hydzik: The
question of who was behind the attack will be raised continually for the near
term, but as lb.ua editor-in-chief Sonya Koshkina put it, “I would venture to
assume: time will pass, the wave will subside, neither society nor Serhiy
[Shefir – ed] himself will receive comprehensive answers.”

Arakhamia’s assessment is not universally shared,
either. Rumors and conspiracy theories are building, including that of a
political stunt timed to play before Zelensky’s speech. Koshkina claims that
Shefir would never consciously go along with such a scheme. She also calls the
event a rubicon for the Zelensky administration, and that his statement
regarding a strong response “may not be just an emotional statement.”

If she’s right, then the intent might have been,
whether Shefir was killed or not, to rouse Zelensky. We hold that he was not
aware of the plot, either. The question becomes, who benefits from a genuinely
angry and vengeance-bent Zelensky.