Hennady Moskal, the governor of Ukraine’s Zakarpattya Oblast, has criticized security measures in Ukraine’s airspace and called for tighter controls in the wake of a recent helicopter crash and terrorist attacks in Paris.
In comments to the Kyiv Post, Moskal hinted that those killed in the crash of the Ukrainian helicopter in eastern Slovakia on Nov. 13 might have been terrorists, rather than illegal migrants.
“I will make an official statement later but hint to you that not every illegal migrant has enough money to rent a helicopter for a ride,” Moskal said. The Ukrainian border guard service earlier said that the helicopter had likely been used to transport illegal migrants.
Eight people were killed in the crash when the helicopter went down near Slovakia’s border with Ukraine.
Ivan Netik, the Slovak Interior Ministry spokesman, said at a press conference in Bratislava on Nov. 14 that several of the victims were from Afghanistan. The pilot, a Ukrainian, was also one of the eight people killed in the crash.
The aircraft was “flying at low altitude in very bad weather conditions, as if it was trying to avoid being detected,” Netik said.
Amid growing concerns that the helicopter was involved in human smuggling, Moskal said he’d already appealed to the president over the matter.
“Such intruders, who have no flight permission,pose a hazard to the lives of Ukrainian citizens,” he said.
“It could have fallen on a town. But nobody saw it during the long ride from Lviv to the border. Why? Because we have no special radars that can spot an aircraft (flying at) low altitude.Do I have to buy them with my own money?”
Moskal said the incident was an opportunity to remind the government that Ukrainian border guards are not allowed to shoot down aircraft that invade Ukrainian airspace.
The press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine confirmed this in a statement to the Kyiv Post.
“No, we don’t have such powers, or weapons.The Border Guard Service is only responsible for the ground. When we notice an illegal air intruder, we report to the special air defense unit of the Air Force of Ukraine. But they’re not allowed to shoot down planes either,” the press services said.
According to an official statement from the Ukrainian Border Guard Service, on Nov. 11, a border patrol detected the sound of the engine of an unidentified aircraft on the route from the Ukrainian city of Uzhhorod in Zakarpattya to the Vyshnie-Nemetzke border checkpoint with Slovakia. A search started immediately on both sides of the border and on Nov. 13 a civilian Mi-2 helicopter was found crashed 35 kilometers from the Ukrainian border in eastern Slovakia.
“We need to put the protection of our borders ahead of the interests of smugglers and illegal migrants. If our government does nothing, ISIS will easily come to us and create the same hell as they did in Paris,” Moskal said, referring to the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13 that killed more than 120 innocent people.
Kyiv Post staff writer Veronika Melkozerova canbe reached at [email protected]
