Ukraine helicopter crash: In a tragic incident, at least 18 people, including the country's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, were killed and several injured after a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten in Brovary city in Ukraine.
Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine’s National Police, confirmed that the deceased also included Monastyrskyi 's deputy Yevhen Yenin, State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych, and two children.
Nine of those killed were aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, Kyiv’s eastern suburb, Klymenko added.
"In Brovary a helicopter has crashed next to a nursery and residential building. Children and the employees of the kindergarten were there at the moment of the tragedy," Kyiv regional governor Oleksiy Kuleba stated on Telegram.
According to media reports, a total of 22 people were injured, including 10 children. The preliminary reports suggested that the helicopter, Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma, was flying in foggy weather which led to the accident.
However, it is yet to be ascertained whether the crash was an accident or a result of the ongoing ravaging war with Russia.
First lady turns emotional at Davos WEF
Ukraine first lady, Olena Zelenska, daubed teary eyes and pinched her nose in emotion minutes before attending a World Economic Forum session in Davos, Switzerland.
“Another very sad day today — new losses,” she said.
Forum President Borge Brende requested 15 seconds of silence after opening the session to honor the Ukrainian officials killed in the crash.
The crash came just four days after a Russian missile strike on an apartment building in southeastern Ukraine killed 45 civilians, including six children — the deadliest attack on civilians since the spring.
“Haven’t had time to recover from one tragedy, there is already another one,” said the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
(With inputs from AP)
