Eighteen people, including Ukraine’s Interior Minister and three children, were killed in a chopper crash near a kindergarten outside the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv on Wednesday.
The chopper slammed down next to KG and a residential building in Brovary a commuter town. A video that seems to be taken from a building in front is immensely taking rounds on social media.
In the footage, the charred remains of the aircraft mixed with debris can be seen accompanied by cries in the background noise which was consumed by fire.
"A helicopter of the state emergency service crashed in Brovary. As a result of the plane crash, the leadership of the interior ministry died," the head of Ukraine's police service, Igor Klymenko, said in a statement.
He mentioned in the address to the media that Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and his first deputy, Yevgeniy Yenin, were both killed. It was the Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba, who put the latest death toll from the accident at 18 people, that include three children.
Furthermore, he added in his address, "There is information about 29 wounded, including 15 children. All necessary assistance is provided to them.”
Rescue operations are underway at the site of the crash. Journalists from international news agencies are covering the development in Brovary among several images one showing the rotary blades of a helicopter cut into a nearby building could also be seen.
UK court sentences Sikh man for drunk-drivingpic.twitter.com/WZx2Bk5ArNJanuary 18, 2023
Denys Monastyrsky, 42, a trained lawyer, had served as Ukraine's interior minister since July 2021. Denys happened to be the key member of the ruling party led by President Volodymyr Zelensky, he was married and had two children with his wife.
🇺🇦🚁🔥A kindergarten destroyed as a result of a helicopter crash pic.twitter.com/WZx2Bk5ArN
— AZ 🛰🌏🌍🌎 (@AZgeopolitics) January 18, 2023
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser, said about the crash, "My colleagues, my friends. What a tragic loss. Deepest condolences to their families.”
No immediate response has been received by the ministry regarding what might have caused the crash. Aviation-associated accidents are fairly common in Ukraine, where the use of aging and sometimes Soviet-era infrastructure is still common.
Brovary is located nearly 20 KMs northeast of Kyiv and was among the urban hubs around the capital, reportedly regions around the capital city are no longer the sight of the deadly clash between the warring faction after the aggressive troops of the Russian Military were pushed back by the Ukrainians, however, a series of deadly missile attacks have disrupted the power supplies across the war-stricken Ukraine including the area around Kyiv.