January 18, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

Nine of the 18 victims of the Brovary helicopter crash identified so far were locals "bringing their children to the kindergarten," said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential administration.

All nine people on board the helicopter died in the crash, and officials put the number of total victims at 18 in their latest update.

However, that number may rise, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv region military administration.

"There is currently no information on the number of missing children," Kuleba told reporters at the scene of the crash.

"Identification is ongoing. Parents are coming, lists are being compiled."

US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke on the phone Tuesday night, with the conversation focusing on support for Ukraine, according to Germany's chancellery.

Both leaders agreed that their support ''must be effective, sustained and closely coordinated,'' said Steffen Hebestreit, government spokesman for Scholz, in a statement.

At the beginning of January, Washington and Berlin jointly agreed to send infantry fighting vehicles to support Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Biden announced that the US intended to supply Ukraine with another round of security assistance, including Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

Scholz said that Germany would provide Ukraine with Marder infantry fighting vehicles and an additional Patriot air defense battery.

On Thursday, the United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and newly appointed German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius are set to meet in Berlin ahead of a key meeting with the Ukraine contact group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday.

The meeting in Ramstein, hosted by Austin, will focus on more military aid for Ukraine. 

The death toll in the helicopter crash in Brovary has risen to 18, according to the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.

Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on Telegram that three of those killed where children following the crash near a kindergarten and a residential building in the Kyiv suburb. Kuleba added that 29 people are injured, including 15 children.

Among the dead is Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky and the Ukrainian Interior Ministry's leadership team.

Gerashchenko said: "We will always remember you. Your families will be cared for. Eternal memory to my friends."

The helicopter that crashed was a Eurocopter EC225 "Super Puma," a CNN producer on the ground has confirmed after seeing remnants of flight manuals among the debris.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky is among three senior officials killed in the Brovary helicopter crash, Ukrainian National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said.

At least 16 people died in the crash, nine of whom were aboard the helicopter when it went down near a kindergarten and residential building in the Kyiv region, Klymenko said earlier.

At least 16 people have been killed after a helicopter crashed in a Kyiv suburb on Wednesday, Ukrainian police said.

National Police chief Ihor Klymenko said nine of the dead had been onboard the aircraft, which crashed near a kindergarten and residential building in the eastern suburb of Brovary.

Two of those killed were children, he said.

Another 22 people are in hospital, including 10 children, he added.

A unspecified number of casualties have been reported after a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in a Kyiv suburb on Wednesday, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, said in a social media post that “the number of reports of victims in Brovary is increasing.”

The head of the Kyiv regional military administration said earlier that there were a number of injured people, without providing further details.

A helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building in the Ukrainian city of Brovary in the Kyiv region on Wednesday, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration. 

Kuleba said there are injured people, but did not give further details on how many or the degree of injuries. 

Paramedics, the police and firefighters are responding at the scene, he added. 

This post has been updated with additional information.

More than 9,000 civilians, including 453 children, have been killed in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began last February, Andriy Yermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential staff, told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday, according to a statement from the Ukrainian presidential office.

According to the senior presidential aide, Ukraine has also registered 80,000 crimes committed by Russian forces during the invasion.

Yermak urged the international community to establish a Special International Tribunal to hold Russia's leadership accountable for “the crime of aggression,” as the International Criminal Court does not have the relevant jurisdiction, the statement said. 

He also called for the development of mechanisms that would allow the confiscation of Russian assets to pay for war damages.

Russia has expanded its list of blacklisted European Union officials in response to the EU's ninth round of sanctions imposed in December, Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday. 

Those now barred from entering Russia include senior officials from military agencies of EU countries involved in the training of Ukrainian troops, the statement said. 

It also includes European state-run and commercial entities that manufacture and supply weapons and military equipment to Kyiv, and citizens of EU countries "who engage in systematic public anti-Russian rhetoric," the statement added. 

The ministry did not mention specific names of individuals or entities.

Some background: The EU sanctions imposed in December added almost 200 individuals and entities to an asset freeze list, including Russian military members, defense firms, politicians and Russian proxy authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine, the European Commission said at the time.