According to officials, Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj died in a helicopter crash near the capital Kyiv. At least 18 people died in the crash in the small town of Brovary, the governor of the Kiev region, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on Wednesday. Deputy Interior Minister Jehwhenij Jenin and a state secretary are also among the dead.
According to Kulebas, the helicopter crashed in a residential area near a kindergarten. According to the Interior Ministry, three children also died. 29 people were injured, including 15 children, it said.
The cause of the crash was initially unclear. According to Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat, it was an Airbus H225 helicopter. A commission will examine the causes. "It won't just take a day or two, because investigating a flight disaster takes a certain amount of time," said Ihnat. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) imposed a temporary flight ban on the H225 in 2016 due to safety concerns. The predecessor model AS332 was involved in several flight accidents.
Deputy head of the presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko told journalists in Brovary that the interior ministry leaders were on their way to one of the front sectors. He did not want to give any further details.
The EU leaders in Brussels were dismayed by the accident. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her deepest condolences to the families of the victims, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj and the whole of Ukraine. "We mourn with you," wrote the German on Twitter.
EU Council President Charles Michel made a similar statement. Monastyrskyj was a good friend of the European Union. EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola was "heartbroken". Her thoughts are with the families and relatives of Monastyrskyj and the other victims.
Ukraine has been fighting a Russian war of aggression for almost eleven months. There are repeated air alerts in the country because of Russian rocket and drone attacks. The capital Kyiv, like other parts of the country, was repeatedly the target of attacks.
