Ukraine Interior Minister Among 18 Dead in Kyiv Helicopter Crash

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky was among at least 18 people who died on Wednesday in a helicopter crash near a kindergarten in the Kyiv region.

Monastyrsky and other ministry officials, including his deputy minister Yevheniy Yenin and state secretary Yurii Lubkovich, were on board the emergency civil service helicopter when it crashed in Brovary, a city near Kyiv, said the head of the National Police of Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko.

The crash took place at around 8:20 a.m. local time in foggy weather conditions, according to local media reports.

"In total, 16 dead are known so far, two of them are children. Of these, nine were on board the helicopter. 22 victims are in the hospital, 10 of them are children," Klymenko said.

Klymenko said the helicopter belonged to Ukraine's state emergency service.

Shortly later, the head of the Kyiv regional administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on his Telegram channel that the death toll had risen to 18, with three children killed.

Kuleba said 29 people, 15 of whom are children, have been hospitalized with injuries.

The helicopter crashed between a residential building and a kindergarten, causing a fire.

According to local officials, children and employees were present in the kindergarten when the helicopter crash took place. Children and employees were evacuated from the kindergarten, they said.

"The premises of the kindergarten and one of the nearby houses were damaged from a powerful explosion," the mayor of Brovary, Igor Sapozhko, said.

Images and videos circulating on social media show a burning building, debris, wreckage from the helicopter, and bodies on the ground.

Ukraine's national police said an emergency rescue operation was underway.

The cause of the crash is unclear, but Ukraine's Interior Ministry has said it was considering sabotage, equipment malfunction and violation of safety rules as possible causes.

"The causes of the tragedy are being established by investigators. Whether it was sabotage, a technical malfunction, a violation of flight safety rules, we will soon find out," said Anton Gerashchenko, the adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.

"We are finding out information about casualties and the circumstances," the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said.

Monastyrsky, 42, was born in the city Khmelnytskyi, in Ukraine's west, and was appointed to lead the Interior Ministry in July 2021. He was a close ally of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the pair often visited the front lines together.

Gerashchenko paid tribute to his colleagues in a post on Twitter.

"My friends, statesmen Denys Monastyrskyi, Yevhen Yenin, Yurii Lubkovych, everyone who was on board of that helicopter, were patriots who worked to make Ukraine stronger," he wrote. "We will always remember you. Your families will be cared for. Eternal memory to my friends."

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Update 01/18/23, 5:25 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and quotes.