breaking news
A helicopter crashed in the town of Brovary, northeast of Kyiv, on Wednesday, killing 18 and injuring 29. According to the police, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj, his deputy Yehvhenij Jenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovich are among those killed.
According to the police, the helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building. At the time of the crash, children and employees were in the kindergarten, regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba said on Twitter. The building had been evacuated.
Nine of the people on board the helicopter and at least three children were killed in the crash, police said. 15 other children suffered injuries. No information is yet available on the cause of the accident.
Minister of the Interior since 2021
The now killed 42-year-old Monastyrskyj was appointed interior minister in 2021. In addition to Monastyrskyj, Jenin and Lubkowitsch, two other high-ranking officials of the Interior Ministry died, it said. The plane that crashed apparently belonged to the government’s emergency services in Kyiv and was therefore the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.
Brovary is around 20 kilometers from the center of Kiev. In the first days of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, which began on February 24, 2022, there had been fierce fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the city.
