Three Things for January 18
1. Walshe arrested under suspicion of murdering wife
An arrest warrant was issued on Tuesday, Jan. 17, for Brian Walshe, who is suspected of murdering his wife, Ana Walshe.
After Ana was reported missing on Jan. 4 by her employer, Tishman Speyer, the police questioned Walshe. He said that the last time he saw his wife was early in the morning on Jan. 1 when she left their home for the airport. She was allegedly traveling to Washington D.C. for work.
The police were unable to uncover any corroborating evidence suggesting she made it to the airport or boarded a plane on Jan. 1. However, they discovered surveillance footage that showed Walshe shopping on Jan. 2, purchasing cleaning supplies, including mops, a bucket and tarps. The total amounted to $450, and he paid in cash.
The affidavit attached to the arrest warrant says Walshe’s statements to the police were a “clear attempt to mislead and delay investigators.”
Walshe claimed he took one of his children out for ice cream and went grocery shopping on Jan. 1, but police were unable to find any evidence of either trip occurring. Rather, prosecutors assume these statements to the police were an attempt to buy time “to either clean up evidence (or) dispose of evidence.”
While the case works its way through the courts, the Walshes’ three children are in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families.
For more information, click here.
2. Helicopter crash in Kyiv kills Interior Minister
A helicopter transporting Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi crashed into the Kyiv suburb of Brovary in Ukraine. While the cause of the crash was not immediately known, Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official who has died since the war started 11 months ago. There has been an investigation opened regarding the cause of the crash, which is still undetermined.
However, when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland via video conference, he did say the crash is correlated to the war. “This is not an accident because it has been due to war and the war has many dimensions, not just on the battlefields. There are no accidents at wartime. These are all war results.”
The State Emergency Service in Ukraine, which was operating the helicopter in question, said at least 14 people have been declared dead, nine of which were onboard the helicopter including a child on the ground.
According to aviationsafety.net, this is the first incident regarding the Super Puma helicopter involving fatalities since March 4, 2021, when a helicopter operated by the Turkish Army went down in the Bitlis Province.
For more information about the investigation, click here.
3. U.S. and Ukrainian military officials meet to discuss urgent needs
On Tuesday, Jan. 17, U.S. Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with General Valerii Zaluzhnyi at an undisclosed location near the Poland-Ukraine border. This is the first time the two men have met face-to-face since the war started nearly one year ago, though they have spoken over the phone and via video conference numerous times.
The meeting also comes at a time when the international community is beginning to ramp up military assistance to the entrenched nation. This has included additional training of Ukrainian troops, the United States giving Ukraine a Patriot missile battery, and different types of air defense and other weapons systems provided by various European nations.
This is a critical time in the war as Ukrainian forces have been facing fierce fighting in the eastern Donetsk providence, where Russian forces are hoping to shift the balance of power in their favor after a series of battlefield setbacks recently.
Army Colonel Dave Butler, a spokesman for Milley, said Milley originally hoped for this meeting to take place during a NATO conference later this week in Brussels. When it became clear that was not possible, Milley and Zaluzhnyi decided to meet one-on-one in Poland.
For more information about the meeting, click here.
