Helicopter crash in Brovary, identification of bodies in Dnipro: highlights of the day

Helicopter crash in Brovary

At about 8:20 a.m. on January 18, a helicopter of the State Emergency Service crashed near a kindergarten in Brovary, Kyiv Oblast. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was on board: Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhenii Yenin, and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovych.

Currently, the Security Service is considering three lines of inquiry: violation of flight rules; technical malfunction of the helicopter; intentional actions to destroy the vehicle.

As of 3:45 p.m., the emergency service released the following information about the victims: 14 people were killed, including one child. Also, 25 people were injured, including 11 children.

According to the mayor of Brovary, Ihor Sapozhko, a pregnant woman is among the victims of the crash of the SES helicopter in Brovary, Kyiv Oblast. She was hospitalized.

Identification of bodies in Dnipro

In Dnipro, the bodies of three more people killed by the Russian missile strike on a high-rise building have been identified. Another 17 people remain missing.

So far, 45 people have been killed in the strike, while 12 bodies and body fragments have not yet been identified. In addition, 25 people remain in hospitals, including three children.

Assistance in repairing energy infrastructure

US President Joe Biden's administration will provide $125 million in materials to help repair crews in Ukraine deal with the consequences of Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.

€22 million bribe

Law enforcement officers sent to court an indictment against former MP of the VIII convocation Maksym Mykytas.

According to the investigation, in October, the former lawmaker offered Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov a bribe to sign a contract with companies under his control for the construction of the Dnipro subway without a tender.

Mykytas estimated the mayor's "favor" at 10% of the project cost (€220 million euros), which is €22 million. This is one of the record amounts of proposed undue advantage recorded by law enforcement in Ukraine.

Military assistance

Canada will provide Ukraine with 200 Senator armored vehicles as part of a new military aid package.

And Latvia will soon send new batches of military aid to Ukraine. This will include Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, helicopters, machine guns with ammunition, and drones.

Will Germany provide Leopard tanks?

Members of the European Parliament have called on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to provide Ukraine with Leopard 2 tanks and new generation air defense without delay.

During a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised that his country would continue to support Ukraine, but evaded answering the question about providing Ukrainians with Leopard tanks.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, Scholz is allegedly ready to give Ukraine Leopard 2 main battle tanks, but on one condition - if the United States provides Ukrainians with its Abrams main battle tanks.

UPA commander passes away

On January 18, Myroslav Symchych, a prominent Ukrainian military and public figure, a centurion of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and a political prisoner of Soviet concentration camps, died at the age of 100.

Symchych was one of the last living commanders of the UPA. He became famous for the Battle of Rushyr near Kosmach: it was under his leadership that the NKVD punitive division was defeated near Kosmach in 1945.

He spent 5 years in the UPA and almost 33 years in Soviet camps.

New mission of IAEA

The International Atomic Energy Agency continues to expand the presence of its representatives to all Ukrainian nuclear power plants. On January 18, an IAEA team arrived at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

Within a week, teams of IAEA nuclear safety experts are to be deployed to all Ukrainian nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the Chornobyl site.

Other news:

* Bulgaria covertly supported Ukraine with ammunition and fuel, providing one-third of the Ukrainian army's needs in the first six months of Russia's full-scale invasion.

* The United States hopes to "replicate the success" of Ukraine's e-government program, Diia, in other countries.

* The government has appointed the head of the National Police, Ihor Klymenko, as deputy interior minister and entrusted him with the duties of acting interior minister.

* Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that his country does not support Russia's invasion of Ukraine and that the occupied Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts are part of Ukraine.

* Russia is preparing for a new wave of mobilization, with military commissariats targeting Moscow residents.