The crash of a helicopter at a kindergarten outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv resulted in the deaths of 16, including two children and the Interior Minister, authorities announced on Wednesday.
“In total, 16 people are currently known to have died,” the head of national police, Igor Klymenko, said. Among the dead are several top officials of the interior ministry including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, he said.
Cries could be heard at the scene, which was destroyed by a fire, in a video that surfaced online following the incident. The cause of the collision was not immediately clear.
In 2021, interior minister Monastyrsky, a 42-year-old father of two, was chosen. There were 22 patients hospitalised, including 10 kids.
Children and staff members were in the kindergarten when the collision occurred, according to the authorities. Police and medical personnel were on the site.
20 kilometres (12 miles) northeast of Kyiv is where the accident happened in the town of Brovary.
Up until the withdrawal of Russian soldiers in early April, Russian and Ukrainian forces struggled for control of Brovary in the early phases of Moscow’s invasion.
On February 24 of last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin dispatched troops to the pro-Western Ukraine.
The tragedy that occurred at the weekend when a Russian missile attacked a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro left 45 people, including six children, dead.