WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - At least 18 people were killed and many others injured in a helicopter crash in a suburb of Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, First Deputy Minister Yevgeny Yenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovich are among the dead.
They were on board the helicopter, which hit a kindergarten as it crashed down in Brovary, east of Kyiv, reports say. The casualties include three children in the kindergarten.
The head of Kyiv's regional military administration, Oleksiy Kuleba said 29 people, including 15 children, were injured in the accident.
Monastyrsky had been en route to a war hot spot, accompanied by top colleagues in the interior affairs ministry.
Monastyrsky, 42, was one of the Ukrainian lawmakers who presented the most number of legislative initiatives in the parliament. He became the Interior Minister in July 2021.
The crashed chopper was reportedly a Eurocopter EC225 'Super Puma,' owned by Ukraine's state emergency service.
According to reports, there is no indication that the crash was caused by enemy attack.
European Council President Charles Michel said Denys Monastyrsky was a great friend of the European Union. 'We share our deepest condolences with the families of the victims, President @ZelenskyyUa, PM @Denys_Shmyhal and the people of Ukraine,' he wrote on Twitter.
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