There are 18 victims of the tragic crash of the helicopter of the Ukrainian Emergency Services which fell today near a kindergarten in the Kiev region. Among them, as confirmed by the national police, also three children , the Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky , the first deputy minister and the secretary of state. According to the head of the regional military administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, 29 people were injured .
According to the first reports, the helicopter, which crashed in an area shrouded in dense fog , first struck a kindergarten building and then crashed near a residential building.
« If we don't stop Putin , nothing but the European Union. There will be World War III , because when it invades Poland, the Baltic states, nobody will be able to do anything, but everybody will go to war. Even Italy, France, the United States, England, all the member states of NATO will be forced to go to war to demonstrate that NATO really exists".
These are the words of Volodymyr Zelensky spoken during the interview with Bruno Vespa on "Porta a Porta". The Ukrainian president added that he still believes it is unlikely that the Russian leader will resort to atomic weapons because "it would not be advantageous for them".
As for Ukraine's European prospects, Zelensky said he was convinced that membership could come within the next two years. «We have the chance, at least we are doing everything to accelerate entry. We share common values, but we pay the ultimate price, and everyone sees it. Also we keep developing, we show that our army is strong which is also very important for the solidity of the European Union. Furthermore, despite the war, as far as we can, we carry forward the reforms in our state», he underlined.
Meanwhile, on the Russia front, Putin is strengthening the army: by 2026 there will be one and a half million soldiers. While from the United States the Pentagon is sending American weapons stored in Israel to Ukraine . The New York Times reports it citing some sources. With US stockpiles dwindling and arms makers unable to keep up with Ukrainian operations, the Pentagon is turning to two alternatives to fill demand, namely its warehouse in South Korea and its warehouse in Israel.
(Unioneonline/ss-vl)