A helicopter carrying senior Ukrainian officials crashed in a Kyiv suburb on Wednesday, killing at least 17 people, according to emergency officials. The dead included Ukraine’s Interior Minister and other key figures in the warfare.
The minister, Denys Monastyrsky, was the highest-ranking government official to die since the Russian invasion began in February last year. At least four children were also killed in the crash, which damaged a kindergarten and a 14-story apartment building, according to the state emergency services. The accident happened at 8:20 a.m., a time of day when parents usually take their children to school.
The cause of the crash, which involved a State Emergency Medical Service helicopter, was not immediately clear, but there was no initial information that the plane had been shot down.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, Deputy Head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, said the government officials traveled aboard the helicopter to one of the “hot spots” in Ukraine. Investigating the cause of the crash would take time and would involve a team of specialists, he told reporters at a morning briefing at the scene.
He did not want to give any further information about the possible cause of the accident and appealed to witnesses to contact the police.
Pictures posted from the scene showed smoke billowing over a residential area in the suburb of Brovary and a long trail of fire where fuel may have been spilled. One photo showed damage to the nursery’s upper floor, another showed the crumpled remains of the helicopter, with some of the seats still visible.
A witness at the scene told Suspilne, Ukraine’s national public broadcaster, that she saw the helicopter on fire and spinning in circles before it hit the ground.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the crash a “terrible tragedy”.
“The pain is indescribable,” he said in a statement published on his Telegram channel, adding that he had instructed the security services, national police and other authorities to “find out all the circumstances of what happened.”
Parliament of Ukraine said in a statement that in addition to Mr. Monastyrsky, Yevhen Yenin, the first deputy interior minister, was also killed; and Yurii Lubkovich, the Secretary of State. Ihor Klymenko, the head of the national police service, said in a statement published on his Facebook page that rescue workers were working at the scene.
The State Ambulance Service said on Wednesday afternoon that Ukrainian officials said 17 people had been confirmed dead, including the four children. 25 wounded were treated in the hospital, including 10 children. In the first hours after the crash, other Ukrainian officials put the death toll at between 15 and 18.
Mr Tymoshenko said nine of those killed were on board the helicopter when it crashed. The rest of the dead were children, parents or others on the ground, he said.
As news of the officer’s death spread, tributes began to surface on the internet.
“A loss for the family and for Ukraine. A personal loss,” said Ruslan Stefanchuk, head of the Ukrainian parliament. wrote about the death of Mr. Monastyrsky in a post on Twitter. Describing him as a friend, he added: “It’s not fair. My sincere condolences to the family.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, said in a post on his Telegram account that “everyone on board the helicopter was patriots of Ukraine, everyone in their place defended and strengthened Ukraine”.
“The causes of the tragedy are being determined by investigators,” he added. “We will soon find out whether it was sabotage, a technical malfunction or a violation of flight safety rules.”
Oleksandra Mykolyshyn contributed reporting.
