18, including Ukrainian’s Interior Minister, dead after helicopter crash near Kyiv

18 people, including Ukraine’s Interior Minister and three children, reportedly died on Wednesday after a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in the town of Brovary, which is located about 20 kilometres northeast of Kyiv.

Ihor Klymenko, the chief of Ukraine’s National Police, stated that among those killed were Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych.

Interior Minister Monastyrskyi is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war ongoing for 11 months now.

29 people in total were injured, including 15 children, according to the regional governor. Nine of those killed were reportedly aboard the helicopter at the time of the crash, media reports suggest.

An investigation is currently underway by Ukraine’s Security service, according to Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin. As of now, there is reportedly no indication that the crash was a consequence of the conflict with Russia or if it was an accident.

“Another very sad day today — new losses,” Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, tearfully expressed while at a World Economic Forum session in Davos, Switzerland.