Ukraine’s interior minister is among the 16 dead in a helicopter crash

Ukraine’s police chief said 16 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister and other senior officials, were killed on Wednesday when a helicopter crashed in a suburb outside Kyiv.

The helicopter came down near an arboretum in the town of Brovari, on the eastern outskirts of the capital. Officials said two children were among the dead and 10 were in hospital

The officials gave no immediate explanation for the cause of the crash, and there was no immediate comment from Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, who is responsible for police and security inside Ukraine, will be the deadliest Ukrainian official to die since the war began.

National Police Chief Ihor Klimenko said Monastyrsky was killed along with his deputy and other senior ministry officials.

“There were children and … nursery staff at the time of this tragedy. Everyone has now been evacuated. There are victims,” ​​Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba wrote in a Telegram.

Reuters journalists at the scene saw several bodies wrapped in foil in a courtyard near the damaged building.

Videos circulated on social media showed a burning building and people’s screams being heard. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the footage.

“We are getting information about the victims and the circumstances,” the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, wrote on Telegram.

Reporting by Reuters offices. Written by Grant McCall and Himani Sarkar; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Angus MacEwan

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