Oleksiy Aretovych, adviser to the government of the President of Ukraine, admitted to carrying out the missile attack, the purpose of which was to kill General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. During the bombing of the headquarters in Izyum, “several senior officers” died, but the Russian general – as Aristovich reports – “had time to leave.”
Today, Sunday, the Ukrainian and Russian media reported the statement of Oleksiy Aretovich, advisor to the government of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which he made in a video conversation with Russian dissident Mark Fegin on Saturday.
“We shot at the headquarters where he was. They blew it to dust, but nothing. A lot of senior officers died there and without Gerasimov, but he managed to leave a little earlier, and we didn’t succeed,” said Aretović. As he indicated, this happened in late April or early May.
Valery GerasimovMurat Cola/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Media: The United States opposed
Earlier, the American New York Times reported, citing sources Ukraine He wanted to eliminate Gerasimov, but the United States was against it, fearing an escalation. And unnamed press sources said that the attack took place when the general arrived at the war zone in Donbass.
According to New York Times sources. United State I learned about this trip, but Washington did not share this information with Kyiv, fearing that in the event of an attack, it could lead to a direct confrontation between the United States and Russia.
Read also: Ukrainian leader: Vladimir Putin goes to Minsk to push for Belarus’s participation in the war
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery GerasimovPAP / EPA / GAVRIIL GRIGOROV / SPUTNIK / KREMLIN / POOL
However, the Ukrainians also learned about the general’s plans, but the top officials of the US administration, after consulting with the White House, asked the Ukrainian side to cancel the attack. The New York Times wrote that the information came too late, and the Ukrainian military informed the Americans that they had already launched an attack on the general.
Dozens of Russians were killed in the attack, according to official figures, but Gerasimov was not among them.
The New York Times noted that after this event, Russian military leaders limited their visits to the front.
Main image source: Murat Cola/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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