President Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska had arrived at the ceremony dressed in black, carrying bouquets of flowers, to comfort the families of the victims.
By Belga
Sept coffins of the victims of a helicopter crash, including the Ukrainian interior minister, were carefully placed on Saturday in the hall of a building in central kyiv by soldiers in ceremonial dress to the sound of a trumpet, while the whole country paid homage to them.
Citizens dressed in black had previously rushed to Maidan Square, a rose in their hands, to say goodbye to Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and his colleagues, killed in the crash of a Super Puma EC-225 (Airbus Helicopters) which crashed on Wednesday morning in Brovary, near kyiv.
“They weren’t broken by the war and they didn’t allow anyone else to be broken apart from them,” said the official of the ceremony, addressing hundreds of people including government officials.
It was Denys Monastyrsky who called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on February 24 to tell him that the country had just been invaded by Russia, the official recalled.
He was also the one who organized the distribution of weapons as Russian forces approached the capital, he said.
“Glory to Ukraine! “Launched the official, the hundreds of participants in the ceremony responding in echo: “Glory to our heroes! »
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President Zelensky and his wife Olena Zelenska had arrived at the ceremony dressed in black, carrying bouquets of flowers, to comfort the families of the victims.
Family members of the victims stood in front of coffins wrapped in Ukrainian flags, yellow and blue, alongside portraits of those killed in the accident. Several of them were crying.
Ukrainian officials, such as Prime Minister Denys Chmygal on Telegram, called the death of 42-year-old Denys Monastyrsky, 42, a former lawyer who joined Volodymyr Zelensky’s party before being appointed to the Interior as a “great loss”. 2021.
Among the victims was also a photographer, Mykola Anatsky, 34, who was traveling with the Minister of the Interior to the front line.
