Tragedy in Brovary: SBI completes investigation, details of incident

"In August, investigators reported suspicion to five officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine who violated flight safety rules of the helicopter carrying the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine and accompanying persons," the statement said.

In particular, as noted in the statement, suspicion was reported to:

• The head of the Aviation and Aviation Search and Rescue Management of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine;
• Acting commander of the special aviation unit;
• Deputy commander for flight training;
• Commander of the aviation squadron;
• Head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Unit of the Operational Rescue Service of the Civil Protection of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine from the city of Nizhyn, the Chernihiv region.

Investigation details

The investigation revealed that "officials committed blatant violations of the rules of traffic safety and operation of air transport, leading to the death of people."

"SBI investigators reconstructed minute by minute the day of the accident, including decoding the black boxes. Foreign experts, including representatives of the French company - the helicopter manufacturer, were involved in the investigation," the SBI added.

In particular, it was established that in January 2023, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine planned to visit the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

"Despite warnings from internal instructions and legal requirements, State Emergency Service officials involved a helicopter on duty to transport the delegation, which was on duty to respond to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region. The aircraft did not have the necessary permits for other types of flights," the statement said.

Reconstruction of a helicopter maneuver (dbr.gov.ua)

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

"The crew did not have the necessary permits for flights in difficult weather conditions and the required certificates. However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety canceled or postponed the flight until favorable weather conditions," the SBI said.

Due to challenging weather conditions, the helicopter had to fly at an extremely low altitude, even lower than the height of buildings along the route.

"The crew commander saw an obstacle - a multi-story building and began to make an evasive maneuver, but suddenly ascended, lost spatial orientation, and during the completion of the maneuver, due to a lack of necessary skills, collided with the ground," the SBI added.

A daycare center, neighboring buildings, and parked cars were damaged after the helicopter's crash.

In addition to high-ranking MIA officials and their escorts, four women and a child who had just arrived at the daycare center were killed in the aviation disaster. 31 people, including 13 children, suffered various degrees of physical injuries.

Officials of the Aviation Management of the State Emergency Service and the Operational Rescue Service of the Civil Protection of the State Emergency Service are informed of suspicion of violating flight safety rules (safety of air transport movement), leading to the death of people and significant material damage, that is, committing a criminal offense under part 3 of Article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

The head of the flight safety service of this unit is informed of suspicion under part 2 of Article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (official negligence). The article sanction provides punishment - imprisonment for up to 10 years.

Brovary tragedy

On January 18, in Brovary, a Super Puma helicopter crashed into a daycare center. Onboard was the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the amount of 9 people, including Minister Denis Monastyrsky and his first deputy Yevgeny Yenin. All those on board the helicopter, including the pilots, perished. Initially, there were reports of 14 deaths and 25 injuries.

According to the SBI investigation, in addition to the MIA leadership and their escorts, four women and a child who came to the kindergarten perished in the aviation disaster.

"31 people, including 13 children, suffered various degrees of physical injuries," the SBI summarized.

In the first hours after the tragedy, the Cabinet of Ministers immediately instructed to create a particular working group that took control of the investigation into the helicopter crash in Brovary. Later, the Security Service named several versions of the tragedy: violation of flight rules, technical malfunction of the helicopter, or intentional actions to destroy the vehicle. After the Brovary tragedy, ministers were banned from flying helicopters. For now, they are allowed to travel only by car.