Former adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration Oleksiy Arestovich said that the target of the recent attack by the Ukrainian armed forces in the Novgorod region was not the Russian presidential residence, but a special facility for commanding strategic nuclear forces.
He called the strike an “attack on the holy of holies“ and noted that according to the doctrine this could be grounds for a nuclear response.
“This is not just a residence; this is a special facility of the Russian Federation, designed to command the Russian armed forces in the event of a nuclear war. It's as if someone had attacked Air Force One - the US presidential plane. This is a special facility, a whole city with external structures, underground facilities and communication centers“, Arestovich claims on his YouTube channel.
He added that the Ukrainian drones were supposed to hit the facility's communication centers, but were intercepted.
„Why are the Russians so outraged? Because this is a strike on the command center of the nuclear triad and the armed forces of the Russian Federation as a whole in a special period – during a large-scale war. That is, this is an attack on the "holy of holies". And according to the Russian nuclear doctrine and the nuclear doctrine of any state with nuclear weapons, this is a pretext for a nuclear response“, the former adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration emphasized.
Arestovich noted that a "grandiose provocation“ was committed against the mediation of US President Donald Trump in the settlement of the conflict, and the American leader “looks like a completely discredited gentleman in this situation“, as he is unable to ensure negotiations without provocations.
Kiev claims that there was no attack, and the allegations of an attempted strike on Putin's residence are needed to justify further Russian attacks on Ukraine. This is supported by both the country's president and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sibikha, who have stated that “Russian manipulations“ are aimed at undermining the negotiation process.
Oleksiy Arestovich is a critic of the current Ukrainian government and lives abroad.
On May 1, 2025, President Volodymyr Zelensky imposed personal sanctions against Arestovich. These include an asset freeze, the withdrawal of state awards and a ban on the distribution of his media content on the territory of Ukraine. Arestovich is the subject of criminal proceedings in Ukraine (including for perjury and propaganda of violence) and is internationally wanted by Russia, where he is listed as a “terrorist and extremist“.
He has been a vocal critic of Ukraine's strategy in the war, presenting his own “peace plan“ in 2025. This plan includes a ceasefire scenario modeled after “the two Germanys“ (West Germany and the GDR), which would mean temporarily leaving occupied territories under Russian control in exchange for security guarantees for the rest of Ukraine.
Arestovich is a former employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine and the founder of the “Apeiron“ school of thought.
At the beginning of the Russian invasion in 2022, he was the main spokesman for the Office of the President, known for his reassuring predictions, before resigning in January 2023 d.