Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukraine’s inside minister was amongst not less than 13 individuals killed when a helicopter crashed close to a kindergarten exterior the capital of Kyiv, officers mentioned Wednesday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy describing it as a “terrible tragedy.” He mentioned not less than three kids have been among the many useless, however the nationwide emergency service later mentioned just one youngster fatality was confirmed.
Video of the instant aftermath confirmed a big hearth, as cries may very well be heard from the scene. There was no instant data on what precipitated the crash on a foggy morning, or whether or not it was believed to have been an accident or associated to Russia’s ongoing battle on Ukraine. There has been no combating close to Kyiv in months.
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Ukraine’s State Emergency Service later mentioned not less than 14 individuals have been killed within the crash, together with one youngster on the bottom. It mentioned greater than two dozen individuals have been injured, together with 11 kids. Earlier, official studies, together with from Zelenskyy himself, gave completely different casualty numbers, together with greater dying tolls.
Kyiv regional Gov. Oleksii Kuleba instructed Ukrainian tv that emergency companies have been nonetheless figuring out stays recovered and that the dying toll might rise.
The Ukraine National Police mentioned the crash killed 5 Interior Ministry officers, one nationwide police official and three crew members on the helicopter. The Associated Press quoted Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police, as saying Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych have been among the many useless.
Nine of these killed have been aboard the emergency companies helicopter, well being officers mentioned.
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Zelenskyy described the crash as “a terrible tragedy” on a “black morning” that had precipitated him “unspeakable pain.”
“I have instructed the Security Service of Ukraine, in cooperation with the National Police of Ukraine and other authorized bodies, to find out all the circumstances of what happened,” he mentioned on the Telegram messaging app.
Monastyrsky, a 42-year-old father of two, was appointed inside minister in 2021. He’s probably the most senior Ukrainian official to lose his life since Russia invaded Ukraine 11 months in the past, based on the Reuters news service.
Twenty-two individuals have been hospitalized, together with 10 kids. Officials mentioned that on the time of the crash that kids and staff have been within the kindergarten.
Medics and police have been working on the scene, within the city of Brovary some 12 miles northeast of Kyiv.
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Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for management of Brovary within the early levels of Moscow’s invasion till Russia’s troops withdrew in early April.
Russian President Vladimir Putin despatched troops into pro-Western Ukraine on February 24 final 12 months.
The crash got here on the heels of a tragedy that noticed not less than 45 individuals, together with six kids, die when a Russian missile struck a residential constructing within the jap metropolis of Dnipro over the weekend.