Three close to Zelensky died in the crash 12 children were injured
Three key Ukrainian government figures were killed in a helicopter crash near a kindergarten in the eastern suburbs of the capital Kyiv early Wednesday. Among them is Denis Monastirski – Minister of the Interior and
one of the most valuable advisers
of President Zelensky, who participated in the preparation of strategies to contain the Russian invasion. The two have been working together since before Zelensky took the leadership post.
The 42-year-old Monastirski died on Wednesday early morning together with his first deputy and the state secretary of the Ministry of the Interior. Since the beginning of the war, he has been the highest-ranking casualty.
In the accident, 16 people were killed, and at least 30 were injured in hospital, announced the head of the presidential administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko. Among them there are 12 children.
The minister’s team was traveling to a “hot spot” of the war when his helicopter went down. Volodymyr Tymoshko, the police chief in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, announced that he had been waiting for them for a meeting.
The weather was foggy early in the morning, and because of the Russian strikes there was no electricity in the suburb. All that was recognizable from the helicopter was a door panel and one of its rotors that had landed on the roof of a car. The kindergarten building was badly damaged.
The main version is that the crash was an accident – there is no indication of a deliberate collision. However, the State Security Service operates under several scenarios –
sabotage, technical malfunction or violation of flight rules
Police chief Igor Klymenko wrote on Facebook that the helicopter belonged to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service. According to eyewitnesses, the aircraft was a French Super Puma plane – banned for years in Europe precisely because of frequent technical malfunctions.
In 2016, a number of countries such as Norway and Great Britain suspended commercial flights with the model in question following a crash with a Super Puma carrying passengers from a Norwegian oil rig. The rotor blades spun, killing 13 people. The European Aviation Safety Agency later grounded the last models in use. However, the machines are still used in some countries. In Brazil, for example, two of the presidential helicopters are precisely a modified version of the Super Puma.
After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine needed to acquire military equipment and made many deals with France, Georgia and other countries, and part of the acquisitions included the obsolete Super Puma model. The deal between Kyiv and Paris was
for 1.5 billion euros, financed by a loan from French banks
Since the invasion of Russia in February 2022, these helicopters have not been involved in military operations, but rather are used to provide emergency medical assistance or to transport government officials.
The Home Office has a vital role in maintaining security and governance during wartime. Therefore, the death of the three key figures is a huge problem for Kyiv.
President Zelensky declared what happened to be a terrible tragedy that claimed the lives of “true patriots”. His wife Olena, who is in Davos to attend the economic forum, took the news extremely emotionally, breaking down in tears minutes before she was given the floor.
