By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin By — Shoshana Dubnow Shoshana Dubnow Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/ukrainian-interior-minister-among-14-killed-in-helicopter-crash-near-kyiv Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio For the first time in nearly 11 months of war with Russia, a Ukrainian cabinet member is dead. Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi was killed when his helicopter went down in a suburb of Kyiv. In all, at least 14 people died in the crash. Among them, at least one child was killed on the ground. Nick Schifrin reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Geoff Bennett: Good evening, and welcome to the "NewsHour."Tonight, a first in nearly 11 months of war in Ukraine, the death of a Ukrainian Cabinet member. The interior minister was killed when his helicopter went down in a suburb of Kyiv. Amna Nawaz: In all, at least 14 people died in that crash, among them at least one child who was killed on the ground.Nick Schifrin has our report. Nick Schifrin: Even in a nation far too familiar with war, what authorities called a terrible tragedy, the aftermath of the helicopter crash early this morning near a kindergarten filled with children.Oleksandr arriving at the scene, realizing he had just lost his wife and their daughter, who had been inside the building. Kateryna Pechura's daughter is only alive because she happened to have kept her home. Kateryna Pechura, Ukraine Resident (through translator): I thought a rocket hit our house. I quickly started to dress the children. We came out and we looked at what happened, bodies with torn-off clothes. Nick Schifrin: The crash left a burning wreckage, damaged apartment buildings, and helicopter debris in a Kyiv suburb that helped resist Russia's attempt last year to seize the capital.Among the dead in the helicopter, Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and his senior aides. Monastyrsky oversaw Ukraine's police and emergency services and often visited the scenes of Russian strikes. Ukrainian officials say they are investigating the crash's cause. Andrey Nebitov, Kyiv National Police (through translator): It is early to give the reasons. I can say that there will be a large investigation to determine all the circumstances. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President: A tragedy happened near Kyiv. Nick Schifrin: But today, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for a moment of silence… Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Thank you very much. Nick Schifrin: … and blamed Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy (through translator): This was not an accident, because it was due to war. There are no accidents in wartime. Nick Schifrin: In Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov took a hard line and suggested the war had no end in sight. Sergey Lavrov, Russian Foreign Minister (through translator): There must be no military infrastructure in Ukraine that poses a direct threat to our country. There can be no talks with Zelenskyy. Nick Schifrin: That leaves Ukrainian fearful there will be more nights of candle lighting and more lives cut short.For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Nick Schifrin. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Jan 18, 2023 By — Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin Nick Schifrin is PBS NewsHour’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Correspondent. He leads NewsHour’s daily foreign coverage, including multiple trips to Ukraine since the full-scale invasion, and has created weeklong series for the NewsHour from nearly a dozen countries. The PBS NewsHour series “Inside Putin’s Russia” won a 2017 Peabody Award and the National Press Club’s Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence. In 2020 Schifrin received the American Academy of Diplomacy’s Arthur Ross Media Award for Distinguished Reporting and Analysis of Foreign Affairs. He was a member of the NewsHour teams awarded a 2021 Peabody for coverage of COVID-19, and a 2023 duPont Columbia Award for coverage of Afghanistan and Ukraine. Prior to PBS NewsHour, Schifrin was Al Jazeera America's Middle East correspondent. He led the channel’s coverage of the 2014 war in Gaza; reported on the Syrian war from Syria's Turkish, Lebanese and Jordanian borders; and covered the annexation of Crimea. He won an Overseas Press Club award for his Gaza coverage and a National Headliners Award for his Ukraine coverage. From 2008-2012, Schifrin served as the ABC News correspondent in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In 2011 he was one of the first journalists to arrive in Abbottabad, Pakistan, after Osama bin Laden’s death and delivered one of the year’s biggest exclusives: the first video from inside bin Laden’s compound. His reporting helped ABC News win an Edward R. Murrow award for its bin Laden coverage. Schifrin is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a board member of the Overseas Press Club Foundation. He has a Bachelor’s degree from Columbia University and a Master of International Public Policy degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). @nickschifrin By — Shoshana Dubnow Shoshana Dubnow