'French' Helicopter That Crashed Killing Ukrainian Interior Minister Reportedly Had Tech Issues

The crash took place in the Ukrainian city of Brovary on January 18, leaving at least 14 people dead and 25 injured.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky and his first deputy Yevgeny Enin are among those killed in a helicopter crash in the Kiev suburb of Brovary on Wednesday, according to the National Police of Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian media, the chopper was bought from France in 2018, and the model in question - an Airbus H225 (previously known as Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma) - had a number of technical problems.

"The helicopter that crashed today in Brovary was from a batch of helicopters purchased from France in 2018. The EC225 (or H225) model, the fall of which the authorities confirmed today, had a number of technical problems. At that time, Airbus Helicopters had several lawsuits over 'inherent' malfunction," the publication said.

The media also reported that sometimes, the main rotor of the H225 helicopters separates from the aircraft mid-flight, so they may have a "potentially catastrophic failure in the design." These conclusions were widely published by Western media back in 2016 after a helicopter crashed in the sea off the coast of Scotland in 2009. According to the investigators, the cause of the accident was attributed to the catastrophic failure of the Main Rotor Gearbox as a result of a fatigue fracture of a second stage planet gear in the epicyclic module.

Earlier in the day, the head of the Kiev regional military administration Oleksiy Kuleba said that a helicopter had crashed in Brovary near a kindergarten and residential buildings.

According to the country's emergency services, 14 people were killed and 25 injured in the accident. The rescue operation has officially ended.