Ukrainian interior minister and a number of other officials were among more than a dozen people killed in a helicopter crash last night near a kindergarten outside Kyiv, in a blow to the war-battered nation’s government.
Ukraine did not claim direct Russian involvement, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said the tragedy was a consequence of the war.
‘There are no accidents at war. These are all war results,’ Zelensky said in English, appearing by videolink at the Davos Forum.
After search operations were completed, authorities lowered the death toll from 18 to 14, including interior minister Denys Monastyrsky, other ministry officials, and a child.
When he observed flames rising over the kindergarten, Dmytro Serbyn, who was in his apartment when the chopper crashed, hurried to assist the kids.
‘They were looking for their parents, children were crying… their faces were cut and covered in blood,’ Serbyn told reporters.
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“We pulled out one girl. I wrapped her in a jacket, her face was wounded… She did not tremble, did not cry.”
The child, Polina, was so badly injured that her father did not immediately recognise her, Serbyn told AFP.
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.
Twenty-five people were wounded, emergency services said in their last update.
Amateur footage circulating on social media in the immediate aftermath captured cries and a large blaze.
‘Today, a terrible tragedy occurred in Brovary, Kyiv region,’ Ukrainian President Volodymyr 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 said earlier he had instructed law enforcement to launch an investigation into the circumstances of the crash.
“We don’t have any notion right now as to what caused that crash,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.
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 homage to Monastyrsky as a “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.