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Eleven Die in Ukraine, Russia Helicopter Crashes
Two Soviet-designed military helicopters crashed in Ukraine and Russia on Monday, killing a total of 11 people, military officials in both countries said.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Kostyantyn Khivrenko said eight
people were killed in the Mi-8 military transport helicopter crash which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. near Kherson in the south of the former Soviet state.
Another Mi-8 on its way for an overhaul crashed near the Russian city of Ulyanovsk, killing three crew members, according to military officials.
Khivrenko said it was the first Mi-8 crash in Ukraine since independence a decade ago.
He said the defense ministry had banned all helicopter flights pending a probe into Monday's crash. He said Defense Minister Olexander Kuzmuk had cut short his visit to the United Arab Emirates and was returning to Ukraine.
A second defense ministry official, Ihor Khorvinsky, said the helicopter carrying six military pilots and two technicians to the Black Sea port of Odessa crashed seconds after take-off.
The aircraft involved in Monday's other crash belonged to Russian forces which patrol the border between the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
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