Ukrainian authorities on Thursday launched an investigation into the helicopter crash that killed the country’s interior minister and 13 others.
Wednesday’s disaster near Kyiv came after the head of NATO told the annual World Economic Forum in Davos that the allies intended to provide “heavier weapons” to the war-torn country.
Ukraine has not claimed direct Russian involvement in the helicopter crash, but President Volodymyr Zelensky called the tragedy a consequence of the war.
“There are no accidents in war. These are all the results of the war,” Zelensky said in English, appearing via video link in Davos.
He also renewed calls for modern Western-designed heavy tanks, which analysts say are critical to breaching fortified defensive lines in eastern Ukraine.
With a thinly veiled reference to Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is weighing whether to give a green light to the export of its venerable Leopard tanks, Zelenskiy issued a “call for speed.”
“The time the Free World uses to think is used by the terrorist state to kill,” Zelenskiy told delegates in Davos.
The announcement came after NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would provide “more advanced support, heavier weapons and more modern weaponry because it’s a fight for our values.”
Meanwhile in Washington, Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said the United States was “not ready yet” when it came to providing Ukraine with advanced Abrams tanks, though he hasn’t completely closed the door to future changes.
“Children were crying”
A helicopter carrying Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building in Brovary, a suburb of Kyiv that was the scene of heavy fighting with Russian troops last year.
Fourteen people were killed, including Monastyrsky, other ministry officials and a child, Zelensky said in his evening address to the nation. Another 25 people were injured, including 11 children.
He added that an investigation had been launched “to clarify all the circumstances of the disaster.”
“Minister Denis Monastyrsky, those who died in the plane crash (his deputy) Yevgeny Yenin and their colleagues are not people who can be easily replaced,” Zelensky said. “This is really a huge loss for the state. My condolences to the families.”
Dmitry Serbin, who was in his apartment at the time of the helicopter crash, rushed to help the children as soon as he saw a flame blazing over the kindergarten.
“They were looking for their parents, the children were crying…their faces were cut and covered in blood,” Serbin told AFP.
“We pulled out one girl. I wrapped her in a jacket, her face was injured … She did not tremble, did not cry.
The child, Polina, was so badly injured that her father did not immediately recognize her, Serbin told AFP.
“A Heartbreaking Tragedy”
Amateur footage that appeared on social media immediately after the incident showed screams and intense flames.
It was not immediately clear where the helicopter was heading.
The President said that he was heading to the frontline areas, and the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, said that he was heading to the site of the missile attack in the Dnieper.
Zelensky said that information about the circumstances of the plane crash would be provided “as soon as clear facts are established.”
U.S. President Joe Biden called it a “heartbreaking tragedy” in a statement, calling Monastyrsky a “reformer and patriot”.
“At this time, we have no information about what caused this crash,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the US National Security Council, told reporters.
Britain said: “Ukrainians will continue to be pledged (victims) as long as (Russian President Vladimir) Putin continues his unnecessary war.”
In the meantime, Berlin “offered German support in establishing the cause of the helicopter crash”.
“Creative, good person”
Klitschko, mayor of Kyiv, paid tribute to Monastyrsky as “a young, very creative, good man … always actively supporting and protecting the lives of our citizens.”
The 42-year-old lawyer by education has served as the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine since July 2021.
He was a key member of Zelensky’s party, was married and had two children.
Air crashes in Ukraine are quite common.
In one of the deadliest recent incidents, 26 people, most of them aviation cadets, died when their plane crashed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv in September 2020.
The city of Brovary is located about 20 kilometers northeast of Kyiv and was one of the urban hubs around the capital that Russian forces tried to capture after invading Ukraine last year.
“Russian question”
Meanwhile in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov compared Western policy towards Russia to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s “Final Solution” plan of genocide against the Jewish people.
“The task is the same: the final solution of the “Russian question”. Just as Hitler wanted to finally solve the Jewish question,” Lavrov said.
The Canadian Foreign Office has summoned the Russian ambassador to protest Lavrov’s so-called “anti-Semitic comments” and to condemn Russia’s recent strike on a residential building in Ukraine’s Dnipro that killed at least 45 people.
