Ukraine’s interior minister and three children were among the 18 people killed in a helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb on Wednesday, according to Ukrainian authorities. No information was available immediately regarding whether the impact resulted from the war with Russia or an accident. There haven’t been any recent reports of fighting in the Kyiv region.
According to Ihor Klymenko, head of Ukraine’s National Police, those killed included Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin, and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych. Monastyrskyi was the most senior Ukrainian official to pass away since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago. He was in charge of the Ukrainian police and other emergency services.
As per Klymenko, nine of those killed were on board the emergency services helicopter when it went down in Brovary, a suburb of the Ukrainian capital in the east. Oleksii Kuleba, the governor of the Kyiv region, claimed that three kids were also killed. Authorities and media reports earlier claimed that the helicopter crashed not far from a kindergarten. The regional governor reported that 29 people, including 15 children, were hurt.
