A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb reportedly killed Ukraine’s interior minister on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general, Andriy Kostin disclosed the incident on Telegram.
He said:
“For now, we are considering all possible versions of the helicopter crash accident.”
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A total number of eighteen people, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych, and three children were reported dead, according to Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police.
Nine of those killed were aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Klymenko said.
Monastyrskyi, who was in charge of the Ukrainian police and other emergency services, is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago.
Kyiv Regional Governor Oleksii Kuleba said three children were also killed. Earlier, officials and media reports said the helicopter crashed near a kindergarten.
According to the regional governor, a total of twenty-nine people were injured, including fifteen children.
However, there was no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia.
Also, findings revealed that no fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area.
Nonetheless, it was gathered that an investigation has begun by the Security Service of Ukraine.
Forum President Borge Brende requested 15 seconds of silence after opening the session to honor the Ukrainian officials killed in the crash.
The crash came just four days after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine killed 45 civilians, including six children — the deadliest attack on civilians since the spring.
Meanwhile, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko said:
“Haven’t had time to recover from one tragedy, there is already another one.”
