Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Had an emotional meeting on Saturday morning with the families of those killed in a helicopter crash earlier this week.
Zelensky spoke with family members of seven people killed in Wednesday’s crash in the Brovary area of the capital city of Kiev. A helicopter carrying Interior Minister Denis Monastirsky and other top officials slammed into a kindergarten building in the residential suburb, killing him and about a dozen other people, including a child.
Monastirski, who oversaw the country’s police and emergency services, was the most senior official killed since Russia invaded Ukraine. His death, along with the rest of his ministry’s leadership and the entire helicopter crew, was the second major disaster to hit Ukraine in four days, after a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southeastern city of Dnieper, killing dozens of civilians. died.
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At the somber service in Kyiv, Zelensky and his wife placed flowers on each of the seven coffins draped in the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine. Zelensky then spoke briefly with the families while a small orchestra played a mournful adagio.
The cause of the crash is not known but Zelensky previously said that it happened because the country is at war. Speaking after the service, Ruslan Stefanchuk, the speaker of Ukraine’s parliament, reiterated that view.
Stepanchuk said, “All this would not have happened if it were not for this terrible and undeclared war that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine.” “Therefore, we must remember this and not forget these people. Because every lost life is a great tragedy for Ukraine and the people of Ukraine.”
Russia’s war in Ukraine, nearing the end of its 11th month, is “in a state of stalemate”, with Ukrainian forces likely to make small gains near the city of Kremyna in the northeast, while Russian forces “likely to reorganise”. is” the British Defense Ministry said on Saturday after taking the eastern city of Soledar earlier in the week.
The British ministry said in its regular Twitter update that “there is a real possibility of local Russian advances” around Bakhmut, an eastern town whose capture would give the Kremlin a long-awaited victory after months of battlefield battles.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office said Saturday morning that fierce fighting was underway for Bakhmut in that area of eastern Donetsk region, and that three civilians had been killed in Russian shelling.
A total of five civilians were killed and 13 wounded by Russian shelling in the east and south of Ukraine over the past 24 hours, where active fighting continues, Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post.
The military said in a Facebook update on Saturday morning that Ukraine’s military repelled Russian attacks overnight in Bakhmut and other parts of the country’s troubled east.
Local government Oleh Sinihubov said in a Telegram update that a 60-year-old woman was killed when Russian shells hit her home in the northeastern Kharkiv region. He said four other people were injured in the province.
A woman was also killed in the southern Zaporizhzhya region, where Russian forces fired more than 160 rounds overnight, Governor Oleksandr Starukh said in a telegram post. He said 21 cities and towns were targeted and two other civilians were injured.
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