Ukraine: Criminal investigation into the crash of the Interior Minister’s helicopter
LUkraine’s Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky on Thursday continued the criminal investigation launched by President Volodymyr Zelensky a day earlier after his helicopter crashed and killed at least 14 people.
“The Security Service of Ukraine has opened a criminal case on this terrible incident,” Zelensky said in his speech on Wednesday.
“I instructed the head of the Security Service of Ukraine to clarify all the circumstances of the disaster together with all other competent authorities,” he added.
The Super Puma EC-225 (Airbus Helicopters) helicopter belonging to the State Emergency Service (SES) crashed on Wednesday morning in Brovary near Kyiv.
According to the same source, there were 9 people on board the plane, including the minister and his deputy. According to the latest information given with reference to the same source, 14 people died, including one child, and 25 injured, including 11 children, were hospitalized.
“The head of the national police of Ukraine will be the head of the ministry for the time being. We have also divided the responsibilities of the minister within the framework of our defense operation and ensuring state security,” Volodymyr Zelensky added. .
On the spot, AFP journalists saw debris, a door, and two crushed cars near residential buildings. And they wrapped the bodies and took them to the van one by one on a stretcher.
“Our pain is beyond words”
This accident, which took place 4 days after the Russian missile attack in the Dnieper in the east of Ukraine, which resulted in the death of 45 people, caused great emotion.
On Telegram, Ukrainian officials like Prime Minister Denis Chmygal called the death of 42-year-old Denis Monastyrsky, a former lawyer who joined Volodymyr Zelensky’s party, “a great loss.”
The White House said that in Washington, President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, “are mourning with all those who lost their lives in this heartbreaking tragedy.” The President of the Council of the European Union, Charles Michel, said on his Twitter account that he was saddened by the death of “a great friend of the EU”.
At the World Economic Forum held in Davos (Switzerland), NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg assured that the countries that are members of his organization will provide Kiev with “heavier and more modern” weapons.
A US-led contact group of nearly 50 countries on Ukraine met on Friday at the American base in Ramstein, Germany, to coordinate continued aid to Kiev.
“The main message will be to increase support with heavier and more modern weapons,” Stoltenberg said.
Not long ago, the president of Ukraine launched a “call for speed” in the decision-making process to help Ukraine via video conference, especially since Germany is reluctant to allow the delivery of Leopard tanks to the country.
“Tyranny advances faster than democracies,” complained Vladimir Zelensky. “The free world uses the time to think, to kill the terrorist state.”
The Leopards are among the modern, Western-designed heavy tanks that Kiev is demanding from its allies, and experts say will play a crucial role in the upcoming battles in eastern Ukraine.
The United States, on the other hand, is not ready to supply Ukraine with its most advanced heavy tanks, the Abrams, a senior Pentagon official said Wednesday, citing maintenance and training issues as the reason for the refusal.
Russia, whose forces have suffered major losses and major military failures in recent months, meanwhile continued its pressure on the eastern front of Ukraine, where its army is trying to gain advantage again, only with the Kremlin’s statements.
On the humanitarian front, the new president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljaric, is visiting Moscow on Thursday and Friday to meet with Russian government officials and discuss urgent humanitarian needs and access to prisoners of war. his mission to Ukraine in December, the press release said.
19/01/2023 09:17:03 – Brovary (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
