LAST UPDATE | 18 Jan 2023
A HELICOPTER CRASH in a Kyiv suburb has killed 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and three children.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin, and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed, according to the chief of Ukraine’s National Police.
There was no immediate claim from Kyiv that Russian forces were involved in downing the aircraft and an investigation has been launched into the cause.
A total of 22 people were injured, including 10 children.
The helicopter carrying Monastyrsky slammed down next to a kindergarten and a residential building in Brovary, a commuter town for the capital Kyiv that was the scene of fierce fighting with Russian forces last year.
Dmytro Serbyn, who was in his apartment when the helicopter crashed, rushed to help children as soon as he saw flames billowing over the kindergarten.
“They were looking for their parents, children were crying… their faces were cut and covered in blood,” Serbyn told AFP.
“We pulled out one girl, I wrapped her in a jacket, her face was wounded… She did not tremble, did not cry.”
Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the fatal helicopter crash as “a terrible tragedy”.
“Today, a terrible tragedy occurred in Brovary, Kyiv region,” Zelensky said on social media. ”The pain is unspeakable.”
It was not immediately clear where the helicopter was going.
The presidency said it was headed to frontline regions, while Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said it was flying to a missile strike site in Dnipro.
Zelensky instructed law enforcement to launch an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
Britain said “Ukrainians will continue to be collateral (victims) as long as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin continues his needless war,” while Berlin “offered Germany’s support in identifying the causes of the helicopter crash”.
The circumstances of the tragedy will be clarified in the next few days, Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko told AFP.
Klitschko also paid hommage to Monastyrsky “young, very creative, good person… always proactive in supporting and defending the lives of our citizens.”
Monastyrsky, 42, a trained lawyer, had served as Ukraine’s interior minister from July 2021.
He was a key member of Zelensky’s party and was married with two children.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the deaths of Monastyrsky and two other senior officials were “a great loss for the government team and the entire
He was a key member of Zelensky’s party and was married with two children.
Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said the deaths of Monastyrsky and two other senior officials were “a great loss for the government team and the entire state.”
The European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, paid tribute to him in the European Parliament this afternoon.
“Denys is a true Ukrainian hero,” she said. “That bravery was clear when he frequently visited the frontline. It was clear when I met him in his office in Kyiv and the air raid siren and started. He didn’t flinch.
“He was a warm person and a great leader … we will continue to stand by Ukraine as long as it takes.”
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has offered Kyiv assistance in investigating the crash.
Faeser said in a statement that she had sent her condolences to the Ukrainian government “and offered Germany’s support in identifying the causes of the helicopter crash”.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin has sent his condolences to the victims and their families.
My thoughts and prayers to all those killed and injured in the helicopter crash near Kyiv.
— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) January 18, 2023
My condolences too to the family and friends of Minister for Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyy, and his colleagues, who lost their lives this morning.
Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska was seen dabbing her eyes and pinching her nose in emotion minutes before attending the World Economic Forum session in Davos, Switzerland.
“Another very sad day today – new losses,” she said.
Forum President Borge Brende requested a few moments of silence after opening the session to honour the Ukrainian officials killed in the crash.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world is in a “sorry state” because of myriad “interlinked” challenges including climate change and Russia’s war in Ukraine that are “piling up like cars in a chain reaction crash”.
Guterres delivered a gloomy message on the second day of the elite gathering of world leaders and corporate executives in the Swiss ski resort.
Zelenskyy was scheduled to address the conclave virtually as the Ukrainian delegation, which includes his wife, pushes for more aid, including weapons, from international allies to fight Russia.
Speaking before Zelenskyy will be German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is facing pressure to send tanks to help Ukraine and is the only G7 leader to attend Davos.
The helicopter crash comes just four days after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in south-eastern Ukraine killed 45 civilians, including six children – the deadliest attack on civilians since the spring.
“Haven’t had time to recover from one tragedy, there is already another one,” said the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
The youngest was 11 months old, officials said, and one of the bodies recovered from the rubble yesterday was that of a child.
The Kremlin has denied responsibility for the strike that also injured 79 people.
Kyiv mayor Vital Klitschko said he had “very good and positive signals” that new weapons would be announced for Ukraine at a meeting of the country’s Western allies in Germany later this week.
He told AFP “I hope it will be very positive for Ukraine. Unofficially, I have very good and positive signals.”
He added: “We need modern weapons. Ukrainian soldiers are very good motivated in this war but motivation is not enough. We need modern weapons to defend our homeland from aggression.”
Aviation accidents are fairly common in Ukraine, where the use of ageing and sometimes Soviet-era infrastructure is still common.
In one of the deadliest recent incidents, 26 people, most of them air cadets, were killed when their Antonov-26 plane crashed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in September 2020.
The town of Brovary is located some 20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Kyiv and was among urban hubs around the capital that Russian troops had tried to capture after invading Ukraine last year.
Regions around the capital are no longer the scene of fierce fighting after Russian forces were pushed back, but a series of Russian missile strikes have disrupted power supplies across the country, including in the Kyiv region.
The crash came on the heels of a tragedy that saw 45 people including six children die when a Russian missile struck a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro at the weekend.
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