Ukraine probes chopper crash that killed minister

BROVARY, UKRAINE: Ukrainian authorities on Thursday were investigating the circumstances surrounding a helicopter crash that killed the country’s interior minister and 13 others.

Wednesday’s crash outside Kyiv came as the head of Nato said at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos that allies were set to provide “heavier weapons” to the war-battered country.

Ukraine did not claim direct Russian involvement in the helicopter crash, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said the tragedy was a consequence of the war.

“There are no accidents at war. These are all war results,” Zelensky said in English, appearing by video link at Davos.

He also renewed calls for modern, Western-designed heavy tanks, which analysts say are crucial to pushing through entrenched defensive lines in eastern Ukraine.

In a barely veiled reference to Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz is weighing whether to greenlight the export of its highly regarded Leopard tanks, Zelensky issued a “call for speed”. “The time the Free World uses to think is used by

Saying the defeat of Russia in Ukraine

could trigger a nuclear war the terrorist state to kill,” Zelensky told delegates in Davos.

The statement came after Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would provide “more advanced support, heavier weapons and more modern weapons, because this is a fight for our values”.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Colin Kahl said the United States was not “there yet” when it came to providing advanced Abrams tanks to Ukraine, though he did not completely close the door on a shift in the future.

Kremlin warns Western countries of escalation

The Kremlin on Thursday warned of escalation in Ukraine if the West gives the pro-Western country more weapons capable of striking Russia.

“Potentially, this is extremely dangerous, it will mean bringing the conflict to a whole new level, which, of course, will not bode well from the point of view of global and pan-European security,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

The warning comes on the eve of a key donor meeting as Western countries consider sending more powerful weapons to Ukraine.

On Friday, the United States will gather its allies at its airbase in Ramstein for a new round of talks on backing Ukraine militarily.