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Allied arms pledges and a deadly crash near Kyiv
Summary
A look back at the days before 21 January 2023, when Ukraine's allies announced new military aid and the country lost its interior minister in a helicopter crash.
What had happened in the days leading up to 21 January 2023, as Ukraine entered the twelfth month of Russia's full-scale invasion? Allies were announcing new weapons, and Kyiv was mourning senior officials killed in an accident close to the capital.
A crash in Brovary
On 18 January 2023, a helicopter crashed in Brovary, in Kyiv Oblast. Fourteen people were killed and 25 others were injured. Among the dead were Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Interior Ministry Yurii Lubkovych.
New pledges from partners
The same day, Canada's National Defence Minister Anita Anand announced during a visit to Kyiv that Canada would send 200 Roshel Senator armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine.
On 19 January 2023, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson announced that Sweden would provide its self-propelled Archer Artillery System, 50 Combat Vehicle 90 infantry fighting vehicles and NLAW anti-tank missiles. These formed part of Sweden's latest military support package for the Ukrainian military.
Change in Berlin
A few days earlier, on 16 January 2023, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht resigned from Chancellor Olaf Scholz's cabinet. She stepped down amid criticism of her response to the war in Ukraine.
The picture on 21 January
By 21 January 2023, then, the political landscape combined several developments: fresh armour and artillery commitments from Canada and Sweden, a ministerial departure in Germany, and the loss of the leadership of Ukraine's interior ministry in a single crash in Brovary.
