KYIV: Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych tendered his resignation on Tuesday after causing a public outcry by suggesting a Russian missile that killed at least 45 people in the city of Dnipro had been shot down by Ukraine.

President Volodymyr Zelensky gave no immediate public response to Arestovych’s offer to resign. Hours after the missile strike, Arestovych, who appears regularly on YouTube to provide updates on the war, initially said it appeared that the Russian missile had fallen on the building after being shot down by Ukrainian air defences.

The comment, which deviated from the official Ukrainian account, caused widespread anger in Ukraine. It was also noticed by Russian authorities who appeared to allude to him when they blamed Kyiv for the strike.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russian attacks “do not strike residential buildings” and suggested the strike was the result of Ukrainian air defences, a conclusion he said had also been reached by “some representatives of the Ukrainian side.” Arestovych later rowed back on his comments, citing fatigue, but also said he had made clear that he had been voicing only a preliminary theory.

On Tuesday morning, Arestovych posted a photograph of a letter tendering his resignation and acknowledged making a “fundamental error.” “I offer my sincere apologies to the victims and their relatives, the residents of Dnipro and everyone who was deeply hurt by my prematurely erroneous version of the reason for the Russian missile striking a residential building,” he wrote.

Ukraine says the Kh-22 missile is inaccurate and that it lacks the equipment to shoot it down. Dnipro, a city of almost 1 million people, serves as a supply hub for Ukrainian forces in the eastern Donbas region. It has come under repeated bombardment from Russian missiles.

Rescuers called off the search on Tuesday for victims of the Russian missile strike in the city of Dnipro with 20 people still missing and funerals taking place in the grief-stricken Ukrainian city. In Dnipro, residents gathered around the coffin of Ukrainian boxing coach Mykhaylo Korenovsky.

UK backing

The attack also triggered the resignation of a Ukrainian official who had sparked an outcry by suggesting air defence could have been responsible by intercepting a Russian missile, which then fell on the building.

“I want to show an example of civilised behaviour: a fundamental mistake, then resign,” presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych wrote on social media, posting a picture of his handwritten letter.

On Tuesday, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said “the message we’re sending to Putin — and, frankly, anyone else that cares to be watching — is that we made a commitment to support Ukrainians until they are victorious” by promising new weapons.

Fighting in Donetsk Although the toll from the Dnipro attack is the highest of any recent single strike, Ukraine said Tuesday that fighting was continuing across the frontline. Journalists in the eastern town of Bakhmut witnessed heavy shelling. Outside the city, servicemen dug new trenches while tanks and armored vehicles rolled passed.

Published in Dawn, January 18th, 2023