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27 January 2023
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Ukraine interior minister among 18 dead in helicopter crash in Brovary, Ukraine
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On Wednesday, 18 January 2023, a Ukrainian Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma carrying ten people, including Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrsky, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary Yurii Lubkovych, crashed into a kindergarten in Brovary, a commuter town around 20 kilometres northeast of Kyiv. The crash killed 14 people, including Monastyrsky, Yenin and Lubkovych. Four of the victims were killed on the ground, including one child. Twenty-five other people were injured on the ground, including 11 children.
According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the officials onboard had been travelling to a combat zone when the helicopter plunged to the ground at 08h20EET. Eyewitnesses described foggy conditions at the time of the crash and some reported seeing the helicopter on fire, spinning and circling before it hit the ground. The helicopter came to rest against a local kindergarten, resulting in a fire that charred the side of the building. Search and rescue efforts ended later that day, after nearly nine hours.
The helicopter crashed between a residential building and a kindergarten, causing a fire. The aircraft was commanded by Oleksandr Vasylenko, assisted by his co-pilot Kostiantyn Kovalenko and flight mechanic Ivan Kasianov. According to the State Emergency Service, the crew was trained to perform tasks under difficult conditions.
25 people on the ground were taken to Brovary City Hospital, of whom eight were later transferred to a specialised burn unit in Kyiv. Though none were in critical condition, the Ministry of Health later announced that six of the patients would be sent abroad for further treatment.
The head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, said the helicopter belonged to Ukraine's state emergency service.
According to local officials, children and employees were present in the kindergarten when the helicopter crash took place. Children and employees were evacuated from the kindergarten, they said. "The premises of the kindergarten and one of the nearby houses were damaged from a powerful explosion," the mayor of Brovary, Igor Sapozhko, said.
The cause of the crash is unclear but Ukraine's Interior Ministry has said it was considering sabotage, equipment malfunction and violation of safety rules as possible causes. "The causes of the tragedy are being established by investigators. Whether it was sabotage, a technical malfunction, a violation of flight safety rules, we will soon find out," said Anton Gerashchenko, the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Sources: Kyiv Post, Newsweek
According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, the officials onboard had been travelling to a combat zone when the helicopter plunged to the ground at 08h20EET. Eyewitnesses described foggy conditions at the time of the crash and some reported seeing the helicopter on fire, spinning and circling before it hit the ground. The helicopter came to rest against a local kindergarten, resulting in a fire that charred the side of the building. Search and rescue efforts ended later that day, after nearly nine hours.
The helicopter crashed between a residential building and a kindergarten, causing a fire. The aircraft was commanded by Oleksandr Vasylenko, assisted by his co-pilot Kostiantyn Kovalenko and flight mechanic Ivan Kasianov. According to the State Emergency Service, the crew was trained to perform tasks under difficult conditions.
25 people on the ground were taken to Brovary City Hospital, of whom eight were later transferred to a specialised burn unit in Kyiv. Though none were in critical condition, the Ministry of Health later announced that six of the patients would be sent abroad for further treatment.
The head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko, said the helicopter belonged to Ukraine's state emergency service.
According to local officials, children and employees were present in the kindergarten when the helicopter crash took place. Children and employees were evacuated from the kindergarten, they said. "The premises of the kindergarten and one of the nearby houses were damaged from a powerful explosion," the mayor of Brovary, Igor Sapozhko, said.
The cause of the crash is unclear but Ukraine's Interior Ministry has said it was considering sabotage, equipment malfunction and violation of safety rules as possible causes. "The causes of the tragedy are being established by investigators. Whether it was sabotage, a technical malfunction, a violation of flight safety rules, we will soon find out," said Anton Gerashchenko, the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
Sources: Kyiv Post, Newsweek
