Helicopter crash kills 17, including top official
A helicopter crashed into a kindergarten in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday, killing at least 17 people including three children and Ukraine’s interior minister, Ukrainian authorities said.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, who oversaw Ukraine’s police and emergency services, appears to be the most senior Ukrainian official killed since the start of the war. Two of his top deputies, their assistants and the helicopter crew were among the dead, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram.
Nine of those killed were aboard the chopper when it crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital. The other victims were apparently on the ground. Twenty-five people were injured, including 10 children, Zelenskyy said.
“Unspeakable pain,” he said. “Bright memory to everyone whose life was taken by this black morning.”
Zelenskyy said the national police and security services were working to determine the cause of the crash. There was no initial information indicating the helicopter was shot down. Images posted on social media from near the scene appear to suggest it crashed close to a residential building after hitting the kindergarten.
At the World Economic Forum session in Davos, Switzerland, Ukraine first lady Olena Zelenska fought back tears, and forum President Borge Brende of Norway requested 15 seconds of silence after opening the session to honor the crash victims.
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Other developments:
►Ihor Klymenko, head of the national police force, was appointed interim minister of Internal Affairs.
►Rolling blackouts are underway in eight regions — among them Kharkiv, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia — as Russian missile attacks cripple Ukraine’s electricity generation, which covers only about 75% of demand, according to power system operator Ukrenergo.
►Moldovan President Maia Sandu, speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Davos, urged all nations to help Ukraine win — or “each of us will be in danger.” Moldova is on Ukraine’s southwestern border.
US artillery stockpile in Israel tapped for Ukraine
The Pentagon has tapped stockpiles of its artillery shells in Israel to supply Ukrainian forces engaged in heavy combat with Russia in the Donbas region, a U.S. official said Wednesday.
The two sides have been firing thousands of shells per day at each other, a pace that has forced the U.S and its allies to scour the world for ammunition to feed Ukrainian guns. News of the transfer from Israel was first reported by the New York Times.
The official was not publicly authorized to speak about the transfer of U.S. stocks from Israel. Israeli officials have been reluctant to provide aid to Ukraine over concern about its relationship with Russia. Russian military forces are operating in neighboring Syria, and Israel conducts missions there as well.The Pentagon has pre-positioned stocks of materiel in strategic locations around the world.
Earlier this month, a senior military official characterized the artillery duel in the eastern Ukrainian as savage. The latest U.S. military $3 billion aid package for Ukraine, announced earlier this month, included 18 self-propelled 155 mm Paladin howitzer, 36 105 mm howitzer towed by trucks and thousands of rounds of artillery shells.
Putin says war began in 2014, not with invasion 11 months ago
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine 11 months ago did not start a war, it was intended to stop one that has raged for eight years, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday.
Putin, speaking to veterans in St. Petersburg, said he had no choice but to launch his “special military operation” because Ukrainian authorities refused to negotiate in good faith since Russia-backed separatists began fighting in Ukraine’s Donbas region. Putin has for years accused Ukraine of mistreating ethnic Russians in the region.
“Large-scale combat operations involving heavy weapons, artillery, tanks and aircraft haven’t stopped in Donbas since 2014,” Putin said. “All that we are doing today as part of the special military operation is an attempt to stop this war. This is the meaning of our operation — protecting people who live on those territories.”
Russian diplomat: No withdrawal, damage payments or war crime trials
Russia will achieve its objectives in Ukraine despite a “hybrid war” waged by the West against Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday.
Speaking at an annual news conference, Lavrov dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s demands for a complete Russian withdrawal from Ukraine, payment of war damages or prosecution of Russians as war criminals.
Lavrov accused the U.S. and other western nations of making “all the decisions in Ukraine” in an effort to wear down and weaken Russia.
“There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country,” Lavrov added.
Contributing: Associated Press