The President of Ukraine visited the site of the crash of the An-26 aircraft in the Kharkiv region. The Head of State honored the memory of the victims.
"Mourning has been announced over the tragedy that occurred yesterday in the Kharkiv region. Four takeoffs and, unfortunately, three landings. Tragic statistics, which, unfortunately, led to the death of both cadets and crew," the President said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that the crash killed young men from the 2nd to the 4th year of study and members of the plane's crew.
"We had information that two boys survived. One - of medium severity. The second - doctors fought for him, but, unfortunately, in the morning we were told that he had died. My condolences to family and friends," the Head of State said.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy stressed that investigative commissions had been set up to investigate the An-26 crash, which included representatives of the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Prosecutor General's Office and the State Bureau of Investigation.
In addition, immediately after the tragedy, the President held talks with Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to approve the members and the work plan of the commission investigating the disaster at an extraordinary government meeting.
"We will already be thinking about helping relatives, families of the deceased," Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
The President wants to receive information from relevant experts on the composition and technical condition of all military equipment in service in Ukraine.
"We want to see complete statistics of all our equipment," the President said.
Condolences over the An-26 crash were expressed by President of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell, the Foreign Ministers of Poland, Albania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Sweden, Latvia and Moldova.