Kyiv helicopter crash kills 18, top Ukraine officials dead

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb Wednesday killed 18 individuals, together with Ukraine’s inside minister and three kids, Ukrainian authorities mentioned.

There was no fast phrase on whether or not the crash was an accident or a results of the struggle with Russia. No preventing has been reported just lately within the Kyiv space.

Inside Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Inner Affairs Yurii Lubkovych have been amongst these killed, in keeping with Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s Nationwide Police.

Monastyrskyi, who was answerable for the Ukrainian police and different emergency companies, is probably the most senior Ukrainian official to have died because the begin of the struggle with Russia virtually 11 months in the past.

9 of these killed have been aboard the emergency companies helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an japanese suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Klymenko mentioned.

Kyiv Regional Governor Oleksii Kuleba mentioned three kids have been additionally killed. Earlier, officers and media stories mentioned the helicopter crashed close to a kindergarten.

A complete of 29 individuals have been injured, together with 15 kids, the regional governor mentioned.

“For now, we’re contemplating all attainable variations of the helicopter crash accident,” Ukraine’s prosecutor normal, Andriy Kostin, mentioned on Telegram.

The investigation is being carried out by the Safety Service of Ukraine, he mentioned.

Ukraine first girl, Olena Zelenska, daubed teary eyes and pinched her nostril in emotion minutes earlier than attending a World Financial Discussion board session in Davos, Switzerland.

“One other very unhappy day immediately — new losses,” she mentioned.

Discussion board President Borge Brende requested 15 seconds of silence after opening the session to honor the Ukrainian officers killed within the crash.

The crash got here simply 4 days after a Russian missile strike on an condo constructing in southeastern Ukraine killed 45 civilians, together with six kids — the deadliest assault on civilians because the spring.

“Haven’t had time to get better from one tragedy, there may be already one other one,” mentioned the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential workplace Kyrylo Tymoshenko.

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Comply with AP’s protection of the struggle in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine