Oleksiy Arestovych is officially no longer a freelance adviser to the Office of the President (OP) of Ukraine.
In response to Babelʼs request, the OP provided an updated full list of freelance advisors.
The list includes Oleksandr Zakoretskyi, Mykhailo Chernenok, Andriy Petriv, Serhiy Simak, Victoria Strahova, Ihor Veremiy, Dovydas Vitkauskas, Vladyslav Vlasyuk, Markiyan Klyuchkovskyi and Victoria Storm.
In August last year, Artem Shylo was among the freelance advisers. It is no longer in the new list.
- Arestovych was criticized for suggesting that the Russian X-22 missile that hit a high-rise building in Dnipro was allegedly shot down by a Ukrainian air defense system. This thesis was picked up by the Russian authorities and propaganda in order to justify the strike. On January 17, he wrote an application for dismissal. On the same day, the chief of staff of the Presidentʼs Office signed the dismissal order.
- As of January 20, 46 people are considered dead in Dnipro. Nine people remain missing. 22 people are currently in hospitals.