Ukraine’s interior minister dies in a helicopter crash near Kyiv
Brovary, Ukraine: Sixteen people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and other senior officials, were killed on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed in a suburb outside Kyiv, the country’s national police chief said.
The helicopter landed near a kindergarten in the town of Brovary, on the eastern outskirts of the capital. Two children are among the dead and 10 are in hospital, officials said
Interior Minister of Ukraine Denys Monastyrsky speaks to reporters in 2022.Credit:AP
Officials gave no immediate details of the cause of the crash and there was no immediate comment from Russia, which invaded Ukraine last February.
Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, in charge of policing and security in Ukraine, would be the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to have died since the war began.
National police chief Ihor Klymenko said Monastyrsky was killed along with his deputy and other senior ministry officials.
“At the time of this tragedy, children and … staff were in the nursery. Now everyone is evacuated. There are victims,” wrote the governor of the Kyiv region Oleksiy Kuleba on Telegram.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky (left) speaks to Ukrainian troops in 2022.
Reuters journalists at the scene saw several bodies wrapped in foil blankets in a yard near the crash-damaged building.
Videos shared on social media showed a building on fire and people could be heard screaming. Reuters could not immediately verify the footage.
https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/ukraine-s-interior-minister-dies-in-helicopter-crash-near-kyiv-20230118-p5cdnj.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_world Ukraine’s interior minister dies in a helicopter crash near Kyiv
