It happened in the vicinity of a kindergarten in Brovary, on the outskirts of kyiv. Two other officials of that organization also lost their lives.
A helicopter crashed Wednesday morning near a kindergarten on the outskirts of kyiv, the capital of Ukraineand the Police of that country reported 18 muertosincluding the Minister of the Interior, Denys Monastyrskyand three children.
At the moment it was not known if the incident was an accident or the result of the war with Russia. No recent fighting has been reported in the area. Monastyrskyi, the country’s top police and emergency services official, is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to die since the start of the Russian invasion nearly 11 months ago.
For now, all possible versions of the helicopter crash are being considered, the country’s Attorney General Andriy Kostin said on Telegram.
They also lost their lives Deputy Interior Minister Yevhen Yenin and Secretary of State Yurii Lubkovych; who were aboard the helicopter, according to the police report.
“In the city of Brovary (in the east of kyiv), a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building (…) There are victims,” the deputy head of the presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on Telegram. , citing regional authorities.
“The objective of the flight (was to go) to one of the hot spots of our country in where fights are fought“Tymoshenko said. “The Interior Minister was heading there,” he added. According to a message from the region’s governor, Oleksii Kuleba, there were also “29 injured, including 15 children.”
Prime Minister Denis Chmigal announced, for his part, that he had given instructions to create “a special group to investigate in detail the circumstances of the tragedy.”
President Volodimir Zelensky, for his part, called the accident a “terrible tragedy.” “Our pain cannot be expressed in words. The helicopter fell in a nursery area,” added the Ukrainian leader, who has ordered his security services investigate the circumstances of what happened.
For his part, the governor of the region, Oleksiy Kuleba, specified: “The information about the victims and the circumstances” of this accident are “being prepared.”
Ambulances, police and fire brigade were already working on the scene. “At the time of the drama, there were children and employees at the kindergarten,” Kuleba said.
“At this time, everyone is evacuated“He added, without giving more details about the possible victims among minors.
A Ukrainian police spokeswoman for the kyiv region, quoted by Suspilné public television, said for her part that “a fire broke out” at the time of the tragedy.
As the minutes passed, Ihor Klymenko, head of the National Police, explained that nine of the deceased were traveling aboard the emergency services helicopter. In total, 22 people were injured, including 10 children.
The accident took place in Brovary, a city of about 100,000 inhabitants on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital.
The first lady of the country, Olena Zelenska, referred to the accident before attending a session of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Another very sad day today (…) new losses,” she declared.
The president of the Forum, Borge Brende, asked for 15 seconds of silence after the start of the day in memory of the Ukrainian officials killed in the clash.
With information from agencies.
ES/DD