The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Denis Monastyrsky and his deputy Yevgeny Enin died in a helicopter crash in the Kyiv region on January 18, 2023 in Brovary. This is one of the largest suburbs of Kyiv in the northeast of the Ukrainian capital. In the morning, a helicopter crashed on his territory in the courtyard of the kindergarten. In total, according to the leadership of the National Police, 18 people died as a result of the disaster, including two children. Of these, nine were on board the helicopter. Immediately after the helicopter crash, according to updated data, it was a Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma registered with the Ministry of the Interior and used by the rescue service of the State Emergency Service, the Ukrainian authorities reported five injuries and at least one death. . Later the data was corrected, both in quantity and in personalization of the dead. Children can be kindergarten students or just walk around the yard. It is true that there is evidence that the children were on board the Eurocopter. But the kindergartners still suffered: of the 22 injured in the hospital, 10 are children.
WHAT HAPPENED
Brovary was out of luck again. Why again? In Brovary, an object from the sky has already fallen on the house. True, this happened almost 23 years ago, when on April 20, 2000, the entrance to a five-story residential building was destroyed from top to bottom by a Tochka-U rocket that arrived from the Goncharovsky training ground in the region. from Chernihiv. The city was also unlucky then, as the rocket had to fly a different route and end its journey in a completely different place – at the same training ground, but 30 kilometers from the launch point. It’s just that the engine and control systems of the rocket worked abnormally. On the other hand, then the inhabitants of the city were lucky that only 3 people living in this house were killed, and five more were injured. It was lucky that the rocket was an ordinary target, without a warhead, otherwise there would be nothing left of the house but a funnel and debris.
This time, the Brovars were again lucky to a degree. Because the helicopter did not reach the apartment building only a few meters. The propellers torn off as a result of the explosion literally hung at the entrance to a residential building, and the fire that arose at the scene of the helicopter crash was quickly extinguished, preventing it from spreading to the residential building. After the helicopter crashed, a fire broke out on the ground from spilled fuel from bursting fuel tanks, and almost no one in the helicopter could have survived. The slightest delay or flight two more meters (20 meters shorter – a garden), and the number of victims would be less than a hundred, if not more.
And this is really lucky, because the Eurocopter EC225 is a serious car, it can take up to 24 people on board as passengers, and the crew can consist of one or two people. The helicopter is almost 20 meters long and weighs just over 5 tons (empty). This machine is comparable to our MI-17, which is slightly shorter and slightly lighter. At the same time, the diameter of our main rotor is 2 meters larger. They are similar in terms of the number and power of the engines.
VERSIONS OF WHAT HAPPENED
In Ukraine, two versions of what happened were immediately put forward. But then they were corrected.
Initially the first version was said to be the weather. Let’s say there was dense fog over Kyiv, and the pilot went down unacceptably and caught on something in the air. The weather factor is also called the “human factor”, but this is in normal people. Flying in the fog has its rules and its taboos. And if such an emergency happened, then some of them were violated. As for the fog, there are serious doubts. In just a few minutes, the helicopter was seen passing over Trukhanov Island on the Dnieper in the center of Kyiv, it was perfectly filmed from below, while the height of the flight was at least 150-200 meters, or even higher.
The human factor certainly played a role in this flight accident, as the pilot had to plan the flight route in such a way as to avoid densely populated areas. But when people of such high rank are on board, it is not the pilot who chooses the route. Kaczynski and Basik could confirm this, if it were not for the birch near Smolensk.
The second version was called the fact that the helicopter was shot down by its own air defense officers. They could launch a missile from a MANPADS or something more serious. There are also some doubts. Because the inhabitants of the city would have heard a “game” or an explosion in the air, and most likely both. Or the sound of bursts, if, for example, the Gepard air defense system delivered from Germany was involved. Also, there must be a trace of a rocket in the air. That, however, because of the fog could go unnoticed.
Later, information came that three main versions were being considered: sabotage, equipment malfunction and violation of security rules.
As for the version that should be completely discarded, it is about the destruction of a helicopter by planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces or a Russian air defense missile. Our planes do not fly to this area, and missiles from the S-300 and even the S-400 simply will not reach. And what’s the point? As for sabotage, the topic of which is already being promoted in the Ukrainian segment of the Web, these are not our methods. During the 11 months of the SVO, ours did not carry out a single sabotage against high-ranking officials of Ukraine.
By the way, the helicopter itself was not the personal vehicle of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but was taken from the State Emergency Service from time to time. In any case, the “black boxes” must be found, and their decoding will give the answer to all questions.
If the helicopter was really shot down by Ukrainian air defense teams, then this is the height of unprofessionalism, clearly exacerbated by fear. Since it is difficult to confuse a helicopter with a Geranium-type drone, and everything else flies at a much higher speed. Also, as said, Russian planes and helicopters do not fly to Kyiv.
