Media outlets, citing Ukrainian officials, say that at least 15 people including Ukraine's interior minister, other senior ministry officials and three children were killed on Wednesday morning when a helicopter crashed near a nursery outside Kyiv.
CNN says that according to Ukrainian officials, a helicopter crash near a kindergarten in the Kyiv region has killed at least 18 people, including Ukraine’s entire interior ministry leadership team.
Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, was cited as saying that at least 29 people were injured in the incident on January 18 in the city of Brovary, on the outskirts of Ukraine’s capital, according to. Kuleba wrote on Telegram that three children are among the victims.
Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky, First Deputy Minister Yevheniy Yenin and Secretary of State Yuriy Lubkovychis also died in the crash, Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to the ministry, confirmed on social media
Geraschenko added that investigators are determining the “cause of the tragedy.” He described everyone on the helicopter as a “patriots of Ukraine.”
The BBC says the 42-year-old interior minister was a prominent member of President Volodymy Zelensky's cabinet and played a key role in updating the public on casualties caused by Russian missile strikes since the so-called “special military operation was invaded launched in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Monastyrsky is reportedly the highest profile Ukrainian casualty since Russia's war began, although there is no indication that the crash was anything more than an accident.
According to CNN, the helicopter that has crashed was a Eurocopter EC225 “Super Puma.”
The BBC says that after the crash a fire broke out close to the kindergarten and children and staff were moved from the building. Wreckage from the helicopter was visible outside a burning building.
It was dark and foggy at the time of the crash and initial reports suggest the helicopter hit the nursery before crashing close to a residential building.
