27 November 2023, Monday, 09:52 253

New details on death of Interior Ministry leadership in Brovary revealed by SBI

Editor: Roman Vaniyan

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The State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) has completed the investigation into the death of the leadership of the Interior Ministry in Brovary near Kyiv.

The Ukrainian News Agency was informed about this by the SBI.

The case materials are open for review by the suspects and their defenders, as well as the victims and their legal representatives.

After review, the materials will be submitted to the court.

In August, investigators reported the suspicion to five officials of the State Emergency Situations Service (SESS), who violated the safety rules of the helicopter flights carrying the leadership of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine and accompanying persons.

In particular, the following were notified of the suspicion: the head of the Department of Aviation and Aviation Search and Rescue of the SESS; the Acting commander of a special aviation unit; deputy commander for flight training; the commander of the aviation squadron; to the head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Operational Rescue Service of the Civil Protection Service of the SESS from the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv Region.

The investigation established that the officials committed flagrant violations of traffic safety rules and the operation of air transport, which led to the death of people.

SBI investigators reconstructed the day of the accident minute by minute, including deciphering the "black boxes."

Foreign experts were involved in the investigation, including representatives of the French company - the manufacturer of the helicopter.

It was established that in January 2023, the leadership of the Interior Ministry of Ukraine was scheduled to visit the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk Regions.

Despite the caveat of internal instructions and legal requirements, the SESS officials involved in transporting the delegation a helicopter that was on duty to respond to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region.

The aircraft did not have permits for other types of flights.

During preparation for the flight, the crew commander was not informed about meteorological data along the entire route of the planned movement, in particular, about extremely unfavorable weather conditions over the city of Brovary.

The crew itself did not have appropriate permits for flights in difficult weather conditions or the necessary certificates.

However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety canceled the flight or postponed it until the weather conditions were favorable.

Due to difficult weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude, which is even lower than the height of the buildings on the route.

The crew commander saw an obstacle - a high-rise building and began to perform a fly-by maneuver, but he rose sharply, lost his orientation in space, and, during the completion of the maneuver, due to the lack of necessary skills, crashed into the ground.

When the helicopter fell, it damaged a kindergarten, nearby buildings, and parked cars.

In addition to high-ranking officials of the Interior Ministry and their accompanying persons, four women and a young child who had just come to kindergarten died in the plane crash.

Thirty-one people, including 13 children, received physical injuries of varying severity.

Officials of the Department of Aviation of the SESS were notified of a suspected violation of flight safety rules (air traffic safety), which caused the death of people and great material damage, that is, the commission of a criminal offense provided for by Section 3 of Article 276 of the Penal Code of Ukraine.

The head of the flight security service of the same detachment was notified of the suspicion under Section 2 of Article 367 of the Penal Code of Ukraine (official negligence).

The sanction of the articles provides for a penalty of imprisonment for up to 10 years.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on January 18, a Eurocopter EC225 helicopter of the SESS crashed on the territory of a kindergarten in Brovary, Kyiv Region.

In addition to the crew members, there were Minister of Internal Affairs Denys Monastyrskyi, First Deputy Minister Yevhenii Yenin and State Secretary of the Interior Ministry Yurii Lubkovych on board. As a result of the plane crash, 14 people died, including one child and ten people on board the helicopter; 31 people were injured, including 13 children.