Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine's inside minister was amongst not less than 17 individuals, together with two youngsters, killed when a helicopter crashed close to a kindergarten outdoors the capital of Kyiv, officers mentioned Wednesday.
In a video that circulated on-line from the aftermath of the incident, cries may very well be heard on the scene, which was consumed by a fireplace.
There have been no rapid particulars on the reason for the crash or whether or not it was an accident or stemmed from Ukraine's conflict towards Russia.
The Related Press quotes Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine's Nationwide Police, as saying Inside Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Inner Affairs Yurii Lubkovych had been among the many lifeless.
9 of these killed had been aboard the emergency providers helicopter, the AP mentioned.
Monastyrsky, a 42-year-old father of two, was appointed inside minister in 2021. He is probably the most senior Ukrainian official to lose his life since Russia invaded Ukraine 11 months in the past, based on the Reuters information service.
Twenty-two individuals had been hospitalized, together with 10 youngsters.
Officers mentioned that on the time of the crash that youngsters and workers had been within the kindergarten.
Medics and police had been working on the scene, within the city of Brovary some 12 miles northeast of Kyiv.
Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for management of Brovary within the early phases of Moscow's invasion till Russia's troops withdrew in early April.
Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops into pro-Western Ukraine on February 24 final 12 months.
The crash got here on the heels of a tragedy that noticed 45 individuals, together with six youngsters, die when a Russian missile struck a residential constructing within the japanese metropolis of Dnipro over the weekend.