Five officials of the State Emergency Service have been notified of suspicion due to a helicopter crash in Brovary, Kyiv region, which killed the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Prosecutor General's Office (PGO) said.

"Under the PGO procedural leadership, five officials of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine were notified of suspicion. Officials of the Aviation Administration of the State Emergency Service and a special aviation squad of the operational and rescue service of civil protection are charged with violating flight safety rules (safety of air traffic), which caused death of people and great material damage (part 3 of article 276 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine)," the department said in the statement in the Telegram channel on Thursday.

According to the prosecutor's office, the head of the flight safety service of the same detachment was informed of suspicion of official negligence, which entailed grave consequences (part 2 of article 367 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

"According to the investigation, officials committed frank violations of traffic safety rules and the operation of air transport, which led to the death of people. In the course of the pretrial investigation, the day of the accident was restored minute by minute, including the deciphering of the 'black boxes," the PGO said.

The department said in January 2023, a visit of the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine to Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions was planned.

"Despite the warning of internal instructions and legal requirements, the State Emergency Service officials involved in the transportation of the delegation a helicopter that was on duty to respond to potential emergencies in Kyiv and the region. The aircraft did not have permits to operate other types of flights," the PGO said in a statement.

According to the report, in preparation for the flight, the crew commander was not informed about meteorological data along the entire route of the planned movement, in particular, about extremely unfavorable weather conditions over the town of Brovary.

"The crew did not have the appropriate permits for flights in difficult weather conditions and the necessary certificates. However, none of the officials responsible for flight safety cancelled it or rescheduled the flight until the onset of favorable weather conditions," the prosecutor's office said.

The agency said: "Due to severe weather conditions, the helicopter crew was forced to fly at an extremely low altitude – even less than the height of buildings on the route. The crew commander saw an obstacle and began to fly around, but rose sharply. It lost its orientation in space and, at the end of the maneuver, made a collision with the ground due to the lack of necessary skills."

The PGO reminds that during the crash, the helicopter damaged the kindergarten, neighboring buildings and parked cars.

In addition to high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, four women and a small child who came to the kindergarten killed in a plane crash. Some 31 people, including 13 children, received bodily injuries of varying severity.

"Among the suspects is the head of the Department of aviation and aviation search and rescue of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, acting unit commander, deputy commander for flight training, commander of an aviation squadron, head of the flight safety service of the Special Aviation Detachment of the Operational and Rescue Service of Civil Protection of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine from the town of Nizhyn, Chernihiv region," the agency said.

Currently, the issue of choosing a measure of restraint for the suspect is being resolved.

The pretrial investigation is being conducted by the SBI and the SBU.