Kyiv officials have officially admitted that Ukrainian forces attempted to kill the chief of the general staff of the Russian Federation’s army, Valery Gerasimov, as The New York Times reported on Friday although the United States opposed the plan.
Commenting on the information about the assassination attempt on the Russian commander published in the NYT, Alexei Arestovich, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, confirmed the events, explaining that the assassination attempt on Gerasimov took place in Izium, in the Kharkiv region, in the second half of April or May.
Speaking on the YouTube channel Feigin Live on Sunday, Arestovich pointed out that although Russian authorities did not announce Gerasimov’s visit to the city, the Ukrainians learned about the commander’s trip through their own channels.
A former Russian lawyer, Mark Feigin is human rights activist included in the foreign agents register in the Russian Federation.
Even Washington had concealed the information about Gerasimov’s possible planned visit to the frontlines from Zelensky’s government concerned that Ukraine’s attack on a valuable Russian asset could provoke a direct military confrontation between Russia and the US.
A senior American official told the NYT that Washington told Kyiv not to do it and tried to stop them, but Ukraine forces have nonetheless shelled the positions where Gerasimov was thought to have been. The general, however, was unaffected by the strike since he managed to get out a little earlier, Arestovich explained.
The Russian Defense Ministry, on the other side, never officially confirmed General Gerasimov’s trip to Ukraine in April with Moscow saying he has only visited the Russian troops on the frontlines in early July.
He was among the top Russian defense officials who reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin on the progress of Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine during the meeting on Friday.