A helicopter carrying Ukraine's interior minister crashed into a kindergarten in a foggy suburb of Kiev, killing him and about 10 people, including a child on the ground, officials said.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, who oversaw the country's police and emergency services, is the most senior official killed since Russia invaded the country nearly 11 months ago. His death, along with that of the rest of his ministry's top brass and the entire helicopter crew, was the second major calamity in four days to strike Ukraine, after a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southeastern city of Dnipro, killing dozens of civilians.
It was not immediately clear whether the helicopter crash, which occurred on a foggy morning in the Brovary neighborhood in the east of the capital, was an accident or war-related. Ukrainian authorities immediately opened an investigation. Recently, no fighting has been reported in the capital region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that the accident was extensively war-related, while addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by video conference.
A tragedy occurred near Kiev, a helicopter went down taking the lives of the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, his escort and the helicopter crew and was found near a kindergarten. This is not an accident because it was due to war and war has many dimensions, not only on battlefields. there are no accidents in wartime. This is all a result of war. For the Ukrainian families who have lost their loved ones today and many, many more because of the war, I would like to ask that we honor each of the people who are mourning these losses with a minute of silence.
Ukraine's Western backers will promise heavier and more modern weaponry to Kiev at a key meeting in Germany, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday, as pressure grows on Berlin to send tanks.
"The main message will be more support and more advanced support, heavier and more modern weapons, because this is a fight for our values," Stoltenberg said at theWorld Economic Forum in Davos.