January 18, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The Ukrainian National Police have released the names of the three other interior ministry officials who died in a helicopter crash near a kindergarten in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary Wednesday.

Here are all the interior ministry officials killed in the crash:

In total, six ministry officials died, along with three helicopter crew.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that military-industrial workers might be exempt from the upcoming spring draft during his visit to the Obukhov plant in St. Petersburg.

“As for conscripts who are called up for military service: Considering that the defense industry is currently overwhelmed, and taking into account the fact that you work in three shifts, and the products of defense industry enterprises are in high demand, now we are looking at the possibility of granting a deferment to those who should be called up for military service," he told the factory workers Wednesday.

"I think this issue will be resolved soon,” he added.

Some background: Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu announced Tuesday that Putin had made a decision to increase the strength of the Russian Armed Forces to 1.5 million servicemen.

“Conceptually, Putin agreed” with the suggestions that were announced by the country's defense ministry but details of the expansion are yet to be finalized, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. This comes after Russia conducted a partial mobilization of its citizens in September, recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met, according to officials.

At the Obukhov plant, Putin also expressed confidence that Russian victory in the war is "inevitable" and "guaranteed," saying that the unity of Russians and the heroism of soldiers on the front line will make victory possible.

The Ukrainian Security Services have “launched a pre-trial investigation" of the helicopter crash in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary that killed at least 17 people, including Ukraine's interior minister.

The service said on Facebook that “several versions of the tragedy are being considered,” including “violation of flight rule, technical malfunction of the helicopter, deliberate actions to destroy the helicopter.”

There has been no suggestion from any other Ukrainian officials about Russian involvement in this crash. Earlier, President Volodymyr Zelensky called the crash a “tragedy.”

The State Emergency Services of Ukraine now say that 17 people, including four children, died in the Brovary helicopter crash.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky was among those killed in the helicopter crash near a kindergarten in the Kyiv suburb.

Additionally, 25 people, including 11 children, are hospitalized.

The United States has transferred American munitions stored in Israel for use in Ukraine and plans to send more soon, US and Israeli officials told CNN Wednesday.

A US official told CNN they have moved "some" of the 300,000 155-millimeter shells that the US and Israel agreed would be transferred, and that there are plans to move the remaining amount in the coming weeks.

Israel Defense Forces spokesperson Richard Hecht told CNN that the Americans notified the Israelis a while ago they were transferring munitions. Hecht said the munitions are US-owned, that their movements are "American business" and that they don’t need Israeli permission to move the munitions.

The New York Times first reported the American military is tapping into its munitions stockpile stored in Israel for use in Ukraine, noting Israeli officials had initially expressed "concerns about appearing complicit in arming Ukraine."

Read the full story here.

Wednesday's helicopter crash counted Ukraine's interior minister and several members of his leadership team among its victims, thought to be the most senior government officials to have died since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last February.

Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky, his first deputy Yevheniy Yenin, the ministry's state secretary Yuriy Lubkovychis, the helicopter crew and several ministerial assistants were killed in the crash in the Kyiv suburb of Brovary.

Monastyrsky, 42, was a lawyer by training. According to a biography published on the ministry's website, he spent some years teaching law and management at a university in his home town of Khmelnytskyi, before deciding to turn "from theory to practice" and become involved in politics.

He worked on reforming Ukrainian law enforcement following the 2014 Euromaidan revolution, rose through the ranks and was appointed interior minister in July 2021.

Last year, Monastyrsky accompanied a CNN crew on a visit to abandoned Russian military positions in Chernobyl.

Yenin, also 42, served as Ukraine's deputy prosecutor general and deputy minister of foreign affairs before becoming Monastyrsky's first deputy in September 2021, according to the ministry's website.

Lubkovychis was 33 and, like the other two men, was also appointed to the ministry in 2021.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement that Monastyrsky, Yenin and Lubkovychis were "true patriots of Ukraine."

The helicopter which crashed in Brovary on Wednesday "was repeatedly involved in the transportation of personnel to emergency sites," said the State Emergency Services of Ukraine (SES).

The SES added in a Facebook post that these "Super Puma" ES-225 aircraft are used "often due to the ability to transport a sufficient number of people at the same time."

"The crew of the aircraft was trained to perform tasks in difficult conditions and had the required number of hours of flying time on ES-225 helicopters," it added.

A meeting between Russian and US intelligence chiefs in November was "useful" but did not produce any "breakthroughs," said Russia's foreign minister on Wednesday.

Sergey Naryshkin, director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, and William Burns, CIA director, met at the headquarters of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization in Ankara on November 14.

"They know that we will respond seriously to serious requests: Biden asked Putin for Naryshkin to meet with Burns, and the meeting took place," Sergey Lavrov said during a press conference on the results of Russia’s diplomatic activities in 2022.

"Yes, it was quite serious and useful, although it did not bring any breakthroughs," he said.

On Tuesday, Naryshkin said that another meeting with Burns was possible, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

Asked whether another such meeting could take place, Naryshkin said "this is possible," adding the time for a new potential meeting would be determined "by agreement" between the parties, according to TASS.

Officials from the Ukrainian Interior Ministry were on their way to Kharkiv before their helicopter crashed this morning, according to the Kharkiv Regional Police Chief.

“Today I was supposed to welcome, to shake hands with, to meet... not only the leaders, no, but friends whom I respected and awaited," wrote Volodymyr Tymoshko on Facebook.

“Today I have talked with everyone who was on board, and drove out to meet them," he said.

Tymoshko added that their deaths are “an irreparable loss."

Kharkiv is in northeast Ukraine, and the helicopter crashed in Brovary, east of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.