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At least 17 people, including Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and his deputy, died in a plane crash on Wednesday, January 18, local authorities confirmed. The events occurred when the helicopter in which they were traveling collided near a kindergarten near kyiv. Among the fatalities are at least three children who were on the ground.
A plane crash puts Ukraine in mourning. The victims that have been claimed are the highest charge that the country has lost in the midst of the bloody war against Russia that it has been going through for almost a year now.
There were 17 people, including the Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and the secretary of that portfolio, Yuriy Lubkovych, who died when the helicopter in which they were transporting crashed near a nursery in Brovary, a small city to the east of kyiv, the capital.
Among the fatalities are also three children who were on the ground when the incident occurred.
Another 25 people were injured, including 10 minors, confirmed the Police hours after the governor of the kyiv Oblast, Oleksiy Kuleba, placed the number of deaths at 18.
My friends, statesmen Denys Monastyrskyi, Yevhen Yenin, Yurii Lubkovych, everyone who was on board of that helicopter, were patriots who worked to make Ukraine stronger.
We will always remember you. Your families will be cared for.
Eternal memory to my friends. pic.twitter.com/SdHfujCUAI
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) January 18, 2023
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky described what happened as a “terrible tragedy” and announced that he had ordered an investigation.
“Three children died. The pain is indescribable,” the president said in a statement.
Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Foreign Ministry, also lamented the tragedy in a message through his Twitter account, in which he shared the photographs of the deceased officials.
“My friends, statesmen Denys Monastyrskyi, Yevhen Yenin, Yurii Lubkovych, everyone on board that helicopter, were patriots who worked to strengthen Ukraine. We will always remember them. Their families will be cared for,” Gerashchenko said.
At the scene, rubble was scattered on a children’s playground as emergency workers rushed in a fleet of ambulances to get to work in the middle of a rain-soaked area.
On the site lay several bodies dressed in blue Home Office uniforms and black boots, visible from under the foil blankets that covered them. A large part of the helicopter fell on a car.
kyiv investigates the causes of the accident
On board the aircraft, a State Emergency Service helicopter, were nine people. All died, authorities confirmed.
So far the causes of the accident are not clear. “It is too early to talk about the reasons” for the crash, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said, adding that an investigation could take at least several weeks.
The Office of the Presidency pointed out that the group of senior officials was heading to a “hot spot” of the war.
The head of the National Police added that officials have regularly traveled by helicopter since the war began.
The crashed aircraft was a Super Puma supplied by France, Ihnat said.
The kyiv authorities have not made any reference to the presence of the Russian military in the area where the events occurred.
“Unfortunately, the sky does not forgive mistakes, as the pilots say, but it is too early to talk about the causes,” insisted Ihnat.
Monastyrskyi, 42, was a lawyer and lawmaker appointed in 2021 to head the ministry responsible for the Police. He is so far the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to be killed since the war began.
The accident comes in a particularly dark period for the country attacked by Moscow, just days after a Russian missile killed at least 45 people, bringing down a building in Dnipro, including six children, in the deadliest attack on civilians since last spring.
With Reuters, AP and local media
