Ukranian Interior Minister Killed in Helicopter Crash

Denys Monastyrsky, former Ukrainian interior minister

Ukraine’s interior minister and a number of other senior officials have been killed after their helicopter crashed near a Kyiv kindergarten.

Denys Monastyrsky was among at least 14 dead following the crash, which also killed at least one child from the Brovary School.

Officials provided no quick explanation for the crash’s cause. The SBU stated that it was investigating a number of potential causes, including a violation of flight regulations, a technical fault, and the deliberate destruction of the helicopter.

The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, termed the disaster as a “a terrible tragedy” that occurred on a “black morning” “The pain is unspeakable,” he said on Telegram.

Monastyrsky, who was in charge of police and security in Ukraine, is the highest-ranking Ukrainian official to have died since the Russian invasion commenced last year. Ihor Klymenko, the head of the national police, said that Monastyrsky’s deputy and several senior ministry officials also died in the crash.

The regional governor first reported 18 fatalities, but emergency services later reported 15 fatalities and 25 injuries, including 10 children.

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