Kiev Regime Shakier than Ever, as Losses Reach Staggering Levels

Following the tragic death of over 40 residents of an apartment building in Dnipro, on Jan.14, mainstream Western media immediately went into high gear, blaming the “atrocity” on Russia. From Ukraine to Washington, over-emotional calls were heard for the delivery of more and more sophisticated weapons to the Kiev regime to stop the wanton attacks on innocent civilians.

A few hours later, an outspoken aide to the Office of the Presidency, Oleksiy Arestovych, stated that the Russian missile had been shot down by the Ukrainian air defense forces over the apartment building and exploded when falling onto it, causing the damage. The Russians have regularly denounced Kiev for positioning air defense systems in residential areas, which is prohibited by international law, precisely because of the acute danger for civilians.

As for Arestovych, it is not clear whether he was simply making an off-the-cuff comment as to a well-known reality, or whether he meant to inject some reality into the narrative. He has a long history of making provocative pronouncements, but was nonetheless an aide to President Zelensky.

In any case, his comments caused a firestorm of official protests, prompting him to retract his statement (“I made a serious mistake”), and then to resign from his position on Jan. 17. He was immediately placed on the notorious hit list put out by the Mirotvorets gang, accused of “aggression against Ukraine” and “undermining the moral of the armed forces”.

But that was not all. Shortly after his resignation, a video surfaced on Twitter, in which he delivered a scathing attack on Kiev’s demonization of Ukraine’s Russian-speaking population.

Some experts believe Arestovych is just positioning himself for a better job when President Zelensky is ousted. That may or may not be the case. What is clear, on the contrary, is that the powerful forces that actually run the regime will not brook any opposition to their narrative.

But this was not the only worry of the Ukrainian government. On Jan. 18, the Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi was killed in a helicopter crash, along with two other high-ranking officials of his ministry. An investigation is still ongoing into the cause of the crash, including possible sabotage.

In addition, a number of high-level officials resigned on Jan. 23 amid charges of widespread corruption, including the Deputy Minister of Defense and the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure. Zelensky’s office has indicated that a string of arrests are expected to follow. The next day, the Deputy Chief of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Presidential Office handed in his resignation. Although rarely reported in the media, it has never been a secret that Ukraine has been ranked for many years among the most corrupt countries in Europe.