Steph Deschamps / January 23, 2023

In Kiev, Ukraine, people pay their last respects to some of the victims of the helicopter crash that killed Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and at least 13 others on Wednesday.

In Kiev, Volodymyr Zelensky and Olena Zelenska, as well as many Ukrainian leaders paid their last respects to the victims of the helicopter crash that occurred on Wednesday. Among them, the Minister of the Interior, Denys Monastyrsky, and 13 other people, including a child.

The helicopter, a Super Puma EC-225 (Airbus Helicopters) according to the State Emergency Service (SES) to which it belonged, crashed Wednesday morning in Brovary, near Kiev. According to the same source, 9 people were on board the aircraft, including the minister and his deputy. According to a latest report attributed to the same source, 14 people died, including a child, and 25 injured are hospitalized, including 11 children.

The president and his wife were dressed in black and brought flowers, noted a journalist from AFP. Inside the building where the ceremony took place, located near the Maïdan square in the heart of Kiev, 7 coffins were brought, carried by men in uniform. The coffins were placed in front of black and white portraits of the victims and were covered with the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag. In the audience, the families stood side by side, some in tears.

Denys Monastyrsky will go down in history as one of the best ministers of the interior, as a reforming minister, a moral authority, an inspiring leader,” said the moderator of the ceremony in a speech. Outside, the Ukrainian and European flags were flown at half-mast.

The crash, which came four days after a Russian missile strike that killed 45 people in Dnipro, eastern Ukraine, has sparked widespread concern. Ukrainian officials, such as Prime Minister Denys Chmygal on Telegram, called the death of Denys Monastyrsky, 42, a former lawyer who had joined the party of Volodymyr Zelensky, a “great loss.