Ukraine’s interior minister is among at least 14 people who died after a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten on the outskirts of Kyiv on Wednesday, authorities said.
The cause of the accident, which comes as the country’s war with Russia nears the 11-month mark, was not immediately clear.
At least nine of the dead were aboard the emergency services helicopter when it crashed in Brovary, a suburb about 15 miles northeast of the capital, Ihor Klymenko, head of the national police, said in a statement.
He said the dead included Ukraine’s Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, his deputy Yevhen Yenin, and Yurii Lubkovych, the state secretary. A child was also among the dead, authorities said.
Authorities had earlier set the death toll at 18, including four children, but it was later revised downward as authorities stressed the final figure was uncertain.
“The pain is unbearable,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said of the murdered children.
“May all those whose lives were taken this black morning rest in peace!” she said in a statement.
At least 25 people, including 11 children, were being treated in hospitals, authorities said. The extent of his injuries was not immediately clear.
The helicopter went down near a kindergarten and a residential building, according to Oleksii Kuleba, head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration.
“At the time of the tragedy, children and employees of the institution were in kindergarten. At that point, everyone was evacuated,” he said.
Videos and photos shared online by Ukrainian officials showed flames erupting from at least one building as smoke billowed from the crash site.
The Security Service of Ukraine said on its Telegram channel that it was considering at least three possible causes, including malfunction, a violation of flight rules or “deliberate actions to destroy the vehicle.”