Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held an emotional meeting Saturday morning with the families of those who died in a helicopter crash earlier this week.
Zelenskyy spoke with family members of seven of those killed in Wednesday's crash in the Brovary area of Kyiv, the capital city. The helicopter carrying Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi and other top officials slammed into a kindergarten building in the residential suburb, killing him and about a dozen other people, including a child on the ground.
Monastyrskyi, 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 calamity in four days to befall Ukraine, after a Russian missile struck an apartment building in the southeastern city of Dnipro, killing dozens of civilians.
At the somber service in Kyiv, Zelenskyy and his wife laid flowers on each of the seven coffins draped in the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine. Zelenskyy then spoke briefly with the families, as a small orchestra played a mournful adagio.
The cause of the crash is not known but Zelenskyy said earlier that it happened because the country is at war. That view was repeated by Ruslan Stefanchuk, chairman of Ukraine's parliament, speaking after the service.
"All this would not have happened if not for this terrible and undeclared war which the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine," Stefanchuk said. "Therefore, we must remember this and not forget these people. Because for Ukraine and Ukrainians, every lost life is a great tragedy."
Ukraine interior minister, others killed in helicopter crash
There was no immediate word on whether the morning crash was an accident or related to the war, but authorities have opened an investigation.
Russia's war in Ukraine, nearing the end of its 11th month, is "in a state of deadlock," with Ukrainian forces likely achieving small gains in the northeast, near the town of Kreminna, while Russian forces "have likely been reconstituting" in the eastern town of Soledar after taking it earlier in the week, the British defense ministry said Saturday.
"There is a realistic possibility of local Russian advances" around Bakhmut, an eastern city whose capture would give the Kremlin a long-awaited victory after months of battlefield setbacks, the British ministry said in its regular Twitter update.
Fierce battles for Bakhmut have been raging and three civilians were killed by Russian shelling in that area of the eastern Donetsk region, the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office reported on Saturday morning.
In total, five civilians were killed and 13 wounded by Russian shelling over the past 24 hours in Ukraine's east and south, where active fighting is ongoing, Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post.
Ukrainian forces overnight repelled Russian attacks in Bakhmut and other parts of the country's embattled east, the military said in a Facebook update Saturday morning.
A 60-year-old woman died after Russian shells hit her home in the northeastern Kharkiv region, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram update. He added that four other people were wounded in the province.
One woman was also killed in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, where Russian forces launched over 160 shelling attacks overnight, Gov. Oleksandr Starukh reported in a Telegram post. He said that 21 cities and towns were targeted, and two other civilians sustained injuries.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
