A quiet Kiev
suburb turned into an inferno.
The sounds of screaming can be heard
half minutes
after a helicopter crashed outside
an apartment building
just steps away from a kindergarten
on board.
The leadership of Ukraine's
interior ministry,
including the minister himself,
denies modesty.
Risky and his deputy,
Jeff Henderson, seen
the chopper was bound
for the city of Kharkiv
when it lost control,
smashing into the kindergarten
as it descended.
One child was killed.
Rescue services work
to clear the smoldering wreckage
and search for survivors.
His neighbors
looked out at the scene of horror
which Alla tells us
she ran outside
as soon as she heard the explosion.
We saw only injured children
who were on fire.
Sorry she says.
They were crying and
running out from the school.
Ukrainian security
services have opened an investigation
into the crash.
For now,
there is no suggestion
that foul play was involved.
There was heavy fog in the morning,
but President Volodymyr
Zelensky said
every death is the result of war.
Even when it is far from the front lines,
the wife of Deputy Minister
Jeanine sobbed in shock.
As she took in the scene.
Another tragedy
in a nation that has borne witness
to so much horror as daylight faded.
Emergency services
declared the end of the search
and rescue,
and the bodies were taken away.
Now, Wolf, the president, Volodymyr
Zelensky, said that
rescue operation lasted nearly 9 hours.
In addition to the 14
people who were killed.
I want to stress, 25
people were injured,
some of them quite seriously.
We know tonight
that ten people
are being treated at a burn ward
here in Kiev, and among them
four children and among the dead.
As we mentioned in the story,
one child,
one young girl was killed world.
So truly a tragic day for Ukraine.
Right now,
I want to bring in the State
Department's top spokesperson, Ned Price.
He's joining us from the State Department
right now.
Ned, thanks very much
for joining us on this tragic
helicopter crash near Kiev.
Will the U.S.
be updated on the investigation
into whether this was an accident,
as it appears to be,
or was it some sort of Russian attack?
I expect we will, Wolf, and I expect
we will for a simple reason.
We have been in constant communication
with our Ukrainian partners
throughout the course of the day.
Our embassy in Kiev
has been on the line with them virtually
every hour
to get an update into this situation.
Our embassy in Kiev
has been in turn providing
updates back to the department
here in Washington, D.C..
The short answer right now
is that we don't know what
caused this helicopter to go down.
The Ukrainians have launched
an investigation.
We stand
ready to assist that investigation.
In any way we can.
Our ambassador
and senior officials here in Washington
have made that clear
to our Ukrainian partners.
But more than anything else.
What we've made clear
is the sorrow we feel
for the loss of life,
not only for our partner,
the minister of interior
and members of his team,
but for the dozens of other individuals
who were killed or wounded in this
in this tragic crash today.
Our hearts
go out to those families as well.
And then CNN is now reporting
that the United States
the Biden administration is expected
to announce
one of the largest military aid packages
to Ukraine.
Yet we're talking about another
$2.5 billion aid package.
It will include
for the first time
Stryker combat vehicles.
But while a handful of Western allies
want to provide battle tanks, the U.S.
is not expected to provide them,
at least not now. Tell us why. Why not?
Well,
Wolf, on
any forthcoming announcements, two words,
stay tuned.
As you know, we have made these security
assistance announcements
at a pretty a good clip over the past
year as this started even before
President Putin's invasion of Ukraine
started on February 24th
at every step of the way.
We have been providing
our Ukrainian partners
with precisely what they need
to defend their country,
to defend their sovereignty,
to defend their territorial integrity
against this brutal land
grab, this territorial war of aggression
that President Putin has launched.
You use the word reluctance before.
I think
when you look at everything
the United States has provided
to our Ukrainian partners
over the past year or even longer,
I don't see reluctance, Wolf.
I see determination.
I see determination
to see to it
that our Ukrainian partners
have precisely what they need.
You can measure that
in any number of metrics.
More than $24 billion
of security assistance
since February 24th,
nearly $25 billion
since the start of this administration.
And at every step of the way,
as Russia's plans
have evolved
and as they have failed, each time,
we too have changed
the arc of what we have provided
to Ukraine.
When it was about the battle of Kiev
in the earliest hours
and days of President Putin's war,
we provided
stingers and javelins, other air
defense systems,
other armor, armor, tank vehicles,
armored vehicles,
precisely what the Ukrainians needed for
that moment.
As the battle has moved to the east,
as it's moved to the north, as it is
taken on that flavor, we have provided
high marks,
longer range systems
that are
Ukrainian partners
can use to target
Russian positions on their territory.
We have provided a Patriot missile system
we've provided other air defense systems
that the Ukrainians have used to.
Extraordinary effect,
even as these Iranian
produced drones continue to swarm
into Ukraine's towns and cities.
They the Ukrainians have used the air
defense systems that we provided
to shoot down.
In some cases,
all of these drones now, even one drone,
even one ballistic missile
making its way through this air
defense capability is one too many.
And we're going to continue
to provide our Ukrainian partners
with what they need to defend themselves
and what they need to take back
the territory
that's been taken from them.
And the U.S.
is now
providing the Ukrainians
with Bradley fighting vehicles,
which is very important.
But they keep appealing.
President Zaleski keeps appealing
for the M1 Abrams
battle tanks to be delivered,
and the U.S.
keeps saying no.
One of the concerns about tanks,
as you know, is logistics.
But the U.S.
did change its stance on the Patriot Air
missile air defense system,
which also requires
extensive training and maintenance.
Our tanks off the table
entirely are just off the table for now.
We want to provide our Ukrainian partners
with what they can use
and what they can use effectively
on the battlefield.
As we've demonstrated
before, training is not
an insurmountable obstacle.
High marks requires training.
The Patriot system requires training.
As you mentioned before,
we have provided these Bradley
fighting vehicles
that provide our Ukrainian partners with
an asset that they can use
on the ground
to take on Russian positions
in the near term.
But what we don't want to do
is to saddle our Ukrainian partners
with systems
that they won't be able to use, systems
that they won't be able
to repair, systems
that they won't be able to refurbish.
Every armored vehicle
that you've heard about
has its own characteristics
The M1 Abrams is different
from what other countries have
in their possession.
It's different from the Bradley
fighting vehicle
that we have in our possession.
We are focused on providing
our Ukrainian partners
with what
they can put to use,
if not immediately, in the very near term
and what they can continue to use
for the foreseeable future.
To see to it that
the assistance we're providing
has the utmost effect on the battlefield.