Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky fired his long-time associate and aide Sergey Sherif on Saturday. He has sacked multiple senior advisers in the past week amid an ongoing reshuffle of his administration.
Sherif was one of the few remaining officials to have served alongside Zelensky since day one of his presidency, assuming his post in May 2019. Before getting into politics, he was a long-time close business associate of Zelensky, with whom he had co-founded the Kvartal 95 (District 95) comedy studio.
In September 2021, Sherif survived an assassination attempt when his car was attacked by unknown assailants. The vehicle was riddled with bullets, leaving his driver wounded, while Sherif himself escaped unharmed. At the time, the Ukrainian leadership claimed the hit was retaliation by the country’s “system,” which Zelensky had been purportedly trying to “break.”