OREANDA-NEWS. The President of Ukraine, Vladimir Zelensky, published a video message after the assassination attempt on his first assistant, Sergei Shefir. In a video message, Zelensky called Sergei Shefir not only his adviser, but also a close friend. In his opinion, the organizers of the attack planned to "send greetings" to the President of Ukraine himself.

"It's a weakness to send greetings to me with shots from the forest in my friend's car. But the answer will be strong,"- this is how he reacted to what happened.

Zelensky is currently in New York for a session of the UN General Assembly, but because of the assassination attempt, he decided to return to Kiev ahead of schedule.

Unknown persons fired at the car of the assistant to the president of the country Sergey Shefir near Kiev. More than ten bullets were fired into the car, the driver was injured, the Zelensky adviser himself was not injured. Prosecutor General of Ukraine Irina Venediktova went to the place of the alleged attempt.

At a briefing on the attempt on Shefir, the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Igor Klimenko, called three versions of the attempt: an attack due to the state activities of the presidential aide himself, pressure on the country's top leadership, and an attack aimed at destabilizing the political situation. Shefir himself suggested that the attack was an attempt to put pressure on Vladimir Zelensky.

"I don't understand the reasons. We were driving, suddenly shots rang out, the driver was wounded. Immediately I called the Interior Minister, and the law enforcement agencies worked quickly… My opinion is that the attempt was made with the aim of intimidating the highest echelon of power. But the president is a strong-willed person, you can't intimidate him,"- he said at a briefing.

Sergey Shefir, like Zelensky himself — is a former KVN participant, showman, author of texts for the KVN teams "Zaporozhye — Krivoy Rog — Transit" and "95th Quarter", in which the future president of Ukraine played. He was the producer of the TV series "Servant of the People" and "Matchmakers", which were produced by the studio" Kvartal 95", founded jointly by him and Zelensky. After Zelensky was elected to the post of president in 2019, Shefir became his first assistant.