SBI finds those responsible for the aircraft crash that killed the Minister of Internal Affairs

This information was announced by the SBI.

“They violated the flight safety rules of the helicopter carrying the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine”, the statement said.

In particular, suspicion has been reported to:

• the head of the Aviation and Aviation Search and Rescue Department of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine,
• the acting commander of the unit;
• the deputy commander of flight training;
• the commander of the aviation squadron;
• the head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Civil Protection Operational Rescue Service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in the city of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region.

As established by the investigation, the officials committed gross violations of the rules for the movement and operation of air transport, which led to the death of people.

It is noted that the SBI investigators have reconstructed the minutes of the accident, including decoding the “black boxes.” Despite warnings from internal instructions and legislative requirements, the officials of the State Emergency Service involved the helicopter in transporting the delegation, even though it was on standby for responding to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region. The aircraft did not have the necessary permits for other types of flights.

Additionally, during the preparations for the flight, the crew commander was not informed about the meteorological data along the entire planned route, particularly the extremely adverse weather conditions over the city of Boryspil. The crew itself did not have the appropriate permits for flights in challenging weather conditions and the necessary certifications.

However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety canceled or postponed the flight until favorable weather conditions. As a result, due to the difficult weather conditions, the helicopter was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude, even lower than the height of buildings along the route. The crew commander spotted an obstacle – a multi-story building – and began a maneuver to bypass it but suddenly ascended, losing spatial orientation, and during the completion of the maneuver, due to the lack of necessary skills, the helicopter collided with the ground.

As a reminder, the plane crash in Boryspil occurred on January 18, 2023. The leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was killed in the crash: the minister, the first deputy minister, and the state secretary. Besides the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, four women and a minor child, who were visiting a kindergarten, were killed in the air crash.31 people, including 13 children, suffered various degrees of physical injuries.

Photo: open sources