Cichanoŭskaja expresses condolences to Ukraine over copter crash

January 18, BPN. Belarusian opposition leader Śviatłana Cichanoŭskaja has offered her condolences to the Ukrainian government and people following today’s deadly helicopter crash near Kyiv.

“My deepest condolences to the government and people of Ukraine after at least 18 persons were killed in a helicopter crash this morning, including the interior minister. My heart is with the victims and their families. We are mourning with you after this terrible tragedy,” she tweeted.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, his first deputy Yevhen Yenin and the ministry’s state secretary Yuriy Lubkovych were killed in the crash in the town of Brovary outside Kyiv. The death toll reached at least 18, three children among them. The helicopter, which, according to the authorities, was heading for one of the “hot spots,” crashed near a nursery and an apartment building. Twenty-nine people were wounded.

Belarus, Russia’s close ally, has made no official comment on the incident.