Kyiv: Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, his first deputy minister and state secretary are among the 18 killed in a chopper crash beside a kindergarten and a residential building at Brovary in the eastern suburb of the capital Kyiv, the BBC reported on Wednesday.
The report further said that the helicopter went down when the minister was en route to a war “hot spot”. His deputy has been identified as Yevgeniy Yenin and the state secretary as Yurii Lubkovich.
Six ministry officials and three crew were onboard the emergency services helicopter and all of them were reported to have died.
Three children were among the nine killed on the ground. “There is information about 29 wounded, including 15 children. All necessary assistance is provided to them,” Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba was quoted as saying.
#Brovary. It is impossible to believe. 17 dead, including 2 children. The Minister of Internal Affairs, the First Deputy Minister and the Secretary of State died. My deepest condolences😞
📹 Brovary’s auditor pic.twitter.com/djAU1v3ya6
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) January 18, 2023
Last week, 45 people including six children died when a Russian missile struck a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro.