Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed 15 fatalities. The police had previously given the number of victims as 18. Among those killed are Monastyrskyj, his deputy Yehvhenij Jenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovich. The helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in the town of Brovary.
According to official information, nine people were on board the machine, and six more people were killed on the ground, including three children. 15 children suffered injuries. At the time of the crash, children and employees were in the kindergarten, said regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba. The building had been evacuated. The children were placed in other educational institutions.
According to the spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yuriy Ihnat, it was an Airbus H225 helicopter. A commission will investigate the causes. “It won’t just take a day or two, because investigating a flight disaster takes a certain amount of time,” said Ihnat. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) imposed a temporary flight ban on the H225 in 2016 due to safety concerns. The predecessor model AS332 was involved in several flight accidents.
The Ukrainian side did not say whether there were Russian attacks in the area at the time of the crash. Russia has not yet commented on the crash.
Minister of the Interior since 2021
Monastyrskyj was appointed interior minister in 2021. The 42-year-old was responsible for the police and internal security in this office and is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to have died since the war began. The plane that crashed belonged to the government’s emergency services in Kyiv and was therefore the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.
Brovary is around 20 kilometers from the center of Kiev. In the first days of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, there had been fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the city.
Zelenskyi: “Terrible Tragedy”
Selenskyj spoke of a “terrible tragedy”. “May all the victims of this black morning rest in peace,” said the head of state. He described the top officials of the Interior Ministry who were killed as “true patriots”.
Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal wrote on Telegram of a “huge loss for the government team and the entire state” and expressed his condolences to the families of the victims.
International condolences
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her deepest condolences to the families of the victims, Zelensky and the whole of Ukraine. Monastyrskyj was a good friend of the EU, wrote EU Council President Charles Michel on Twitter. EU Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson was deeply shocked. Monastyrskyj was a “true Ukrainian hero”.
“Our thoughts and our deepest sympathy are with the families of the victims in these difficult hours,” tweeted Chancellor Karl Nehammer (ÖVP). Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) was “deeply saddened by the victims of the tragic helicopter crash near a kindergarten” on Twitter. “Deeply shaken by this sad news,” said Ewa Ernst-Dziedzic, foreign policy spokeswoman for the Greens.
Helicopter based near Kyiv
A helicopter is based near a kindergarten in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Numerous people died, including the Ukrainian Minister of the Interior and other high-ranking ministry officials.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas expressed her condolences to Shmyhal, the Ukrainian people and the families of those killed. The crash was “further proof of the price Ukraine is paying in its freedom struggle against Russia,” Kallas said on Twitter. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was dismayed: “This only confirms how dangerous the situation in Ukraine is all the time,” he said.
“Our thoughts are with the residents of Brovary and our friends and partners,” said the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink. “Denys was a true friend of the UK. We will support Ukraine wherever we can,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wrote on Twitter.
