Ukrainian adviser ready to succeed Zelenskyy as president

By Jeyhun Aliyev

ANKARA (AA) - A Ukrainian presidential adviser on Thursday announced his readiness to replace current Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy as head of state.

Speaking in an interview to journalist Dmitry Gordon – who is placed on Russia's wanted list – Oleksiy Arestovych said he will run for the post of Ukrainian president if Zelenskyy does not seek a second term.

"I want to see how it will be," he said.

"My (political) rating is the president's rating now. I do not separate myself from the president. And I never let down the people I work with. I may have a different opinion, but I will never take it out ... Because I do not wash one's dirty linen in public," Arestovych added.

He called it "incorrect" to talk about presidential ambitions during his country's ongoing war with Russia, and martial law.

"If he (Zelenskyy) runs for a second term, naturally I will not cut him, in no case, this is technically impossible," he stressed.

Arestovych argued that he needs the presidency in order to help people and "do something good."

Besides being an adviser, Arestovych is a popular blogger with over 1.5 million subscribers on his YouTube channel, where he regularly speaks on current sociopolitical issues.