Helicopter crash near Kyiv: 16 dead including the Minister of the Interior

At least 16 people including the Ukrainian interior minister and two children were killed in a helicopter crash on Wednesday near a kindergarten in the Kyiv region, national police said.

“In total, we currently have information on 16 deaths, including two children,” police said in a statement.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, 42, his first deputy Yevgeny Ienin, 42, and another senior ministry official on board the aircraft were also killed, the statement said.

In addition, 22 injured including ten children were hospitalized, according to the same source.

The crash took place in Brovary, a town of some 100,000 people that borders the eastern suburbs of the capital, Kyiv.

At the time of the tragedy, “children and employees” of the nursery school were there, said regional governor Oleksiï Kouleba.

According to footage posted on social media, a huge fire broke out after the helicopter fell.

No information on the cause of the tragedy was immediately released.

The aircraft that crashed belonged to the State Service for Emergency Situations under the Interior Ministry, according to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force.

Source