At least 18 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister, were killed in a helicopter crash on the outskirts of Kiev on Wednesday. The government of the country invaded by Russia last February does not rule out sabotage on the device.
Denis Monastirski was on the plane with other officials from his portfolio when it crashed in Brovari, about 20 km northeast of the capital. The device hit a kindergarten, and at least 3 of the 18 victims identified so far are children who were on the ground. There are also 29 injured, 15 of them students at the school.
“It’s a tragedy,” said President Volodymir Zelensky. If sabotage is proven, this was the highest official assassinated since Vladimir Putin’s forces attacked the neighboring country nearly 11 months ago. But Monastirski’s ministry claims that other hypotheses are also being studied, such as a technical defect and violation of safety rules by the pilots.
The incident comes after one of the most notorious attacks on civilians of the war. On Saturday (14), a missile attributed to Russia hit a residential building in Dnipro, killing 40 people – there are still two dozen missing.
Zelensky’s government accused the Russians of using a Kh-22 missile, fired from Tu-22 bombers in Russian airspace, for the damage. The model was created in the Soviet Union to destroy large ships, such as aircraft carriers, but has been occasionally used against land targets in war, which reduces the effectiveness of its guidance system designed for water surfaces.
The Kremlin denied targeting the building and said the tragedy was the result of friendly fire from Ukrainian anti-aircraft guns. A presidential aide to Zelensky even considered the idea and, under pressure, resigned. The Air Force then issued a rare statement saying it was unable to shoot down the Kh-22 and similar models.
In eastern Ukraine, fighting continues fiercely in the Bakhmut region of Donetsk, 1 of the 4 regions illegally annexed by Putin on 30 September. Kiev hopes that NATO, the western military alliance, will decide at a meeting on Friday (20) to send war tanks to the country.
The United Kingdom promised 14 units, pressuring Germany to release the use of the Germanic Leopard-2, widely used on the continent. At least Poland and Finland, major operators of the model, have already promised shipping if released by Berlin.
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