A Helicopter Crash In Ukraine Killed The Interior Minister And Several Others

(CTN NEWS) – BROVARY, Ukraine – On Wednesday, the interior minister of Ukraine and approximately a dozen other people, including a kid on the ground, died after a helicopter carrying them crashed into a kindergarten in a misty residential neighbourhood of Kyiv.

Denys Monastyrskyi, the interior minister who handled the nation’s police and emergency services, is the highest-ranking official to die since Russia invaded almost 11 months ago.

His demise and the other members of his ministry’s leadership and the entire helicopter crew marked the second significant tragedy to strike Ukraine in the previous four days.

Following the death of numerous civilians when a Russian missile struck an apartment complex in the city of Dnipro.

No information was available right away regarding the cause of the helicopter crash, which happened early one morning in the eastern suburb of the capital, Brovary.

The investigation was started right away by Ukrainian officials. There haven’t been any recent reports of conflict in the capital area.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the crash connected significantly to the war while speaking via video link to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He asked the Davos audience to join him in observing a minute of silence in memory of the victims. “This isn’t an accident because it was created by war, and warfare has many dimensions, not just on the battlefields,” he said.

“In times of conflict, accidents seldom happen. All of these are effects of war.

At least 14 persons were killed, including nine on the Super Puma helicopter and a toddler on the ground, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service, which was flying the French-built aircraft.

According to the report, 11 youngsters were among the 25 injured. Various numbers of casualties were reported in the first official reports.

At least four bodies were covered with plastic at the scene of the collision and subsequent fire. A playground for the kindergarten and some wreckage next to an apartment complex were cleaned by workers.

Blackening and partial demolition of certain walls. The blackened rotors of the helicopter sat on the roof of a building entryway and protruded from a wrecked automobile.

Oleksii Kuleba, the regional governor of Kyiv, told Ukrainian television that the death toll would increase and that rescue workers were still identifying remains.

According to the Ukraine National Police, the crash claimed the lives of three helicopter crew members, one national police official, and five officials from the Interior Ministry.

Yevhen Yenin, Monastyrskyi’s deputy, and Yurii Lubkovych, state secretary of the ministry of internal affairs, were among the fatalities, according to the police.

According to political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, Monastyrskyi, 42, was in charge of the police and emergency services that dealt with Russian attacks and de-mining effects.

Ihor Klymenko, the head of the National Police, has been named acting interior minister, according to prime minister Denys Shmyhal.

Senior Ukrainian officials frequently fly in helicopters during the battle at low altitudes and high speeds, heightening the inherent hazards of the flights.

According to Fesenko, the tragedy might lead Kyiv to adopt a regulation that many nations and businesses already have in place: top officials shouldn’t fly on the same plane.

According to the local police head Volodymyr Tymoshko, the individuals traveling in the chopper were scheduled to stop in the northern Kharkiv region of Ukraine. He added on Facebook that they were “not just leaders” but also “friends I admired.”

A French defence source who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to be identified by ministry rules claimed that the helicopter was sold to Ukraine before the war in 2019.

According to prosecutor general Andriy Kostin’s Telegram post, the Security Service of Ukraine is looking into “all conceivable versions” of the crash.

The crash happened two days after a Russian airstrike in southeast Ukraine that killed 45 people, including six children, and was the bloodiest attack on civilians since the spring.

This was a particularly sad time in the war for Ukraine.

“The pain is indescribable,” commented Zelenskyy on Telegram.

My sincere condolences to the families of the victims and those injured in the Brovary tragedy. The helicopter crash took the lives of 14 people, including a child. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/2SR8sACgIe

— Andriy Kostin (@AndriyKostinUa) January 18, 2023

His wife, Olena Zelenska, who was rallying support for Ukraine at the economic conference in Davos, replied to the news by wiping away her tears, “Another very sad day today – additional losses.”

John Kirby, a spokesman for the White House National Security Council, described the disaster as “heartbreaking.”

Monastyrskyi was “a leading light in supporting the Ukrainian people throughout (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s illegitimate invasion,” according to British Home Secretary Suella Braverman.

She claimed to have been “moved by his resolve, hope, and patriotism.”

The crash, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, “shows once again the terrible price that Ukraine is having to pay in this war.” Scholz is under pressure to send tanks to Ukraine.

In other Wednesday Developments:

— Putin offered a new version of previously-used justifications for his invasion.

He explained to a gathering of veterans that Moscow’s measures were meant to end the “conflict” that has been raging in eastern Ukraine since 2014 between separatists backed by Russia and Ukrainian forces.

“Everything we’re doing as a special military operation today is an effort to halt this war. He said that protecting the residents of those territories is our mission’s purpose.

Ukraine and its Western supporters have dismissed Russia’s claims, which claim that Kiev did not pose a danger to Moscow and that the invasion was unprovoked.

— According to Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, Moscow’s objectives in Ukraine are “defined by Russia’s basic legitimate interests.”

At his yearly news conference, Lavrov stated that there must not be any military infrastructure in Ukraine that directly threatens his nation. He asserted that the objective of Ukraine’s Western backers is to exhaust Russia through the conflict.

— According to Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, fighting has persisted in Bakhmut and the adjoining salt mining town of Soledar.

In the last 24 hours, 14 cities and villages in the partially seized Donetsk area were shelled, according to the presidential office of Ukraine. Two non-combatants were hurt.

Additionally, according to the report, Kherson, a city in southern Ukraine that was retaken by the military of Kyiv in November, was shelled by Russian forces. There were four injuries.

RELATED CTN NEWS:

Ukraine Strike Kills 40, Russia Prepares For A Long War

Russian Strike Death Toll: 45 Citizens Killed, Including 6 Children

US Military Chief Meets Ukraine’s Top Military Chief For 1st Time In Person