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Ukrainian Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky has been killed, police confirmed on Wednesday, after a helicopter he was traveling in crashed in a residential area in the town of Brovary near Kiev.
At least 18 others, including three children, also lost their lives in the incident, the head of Kiev Region’s Military Administration, Aleksey Kuleba, wrote on Telegram.
Another 22 persons, including ten children, were injured and rushed to hospital, according to Kuleba.
Nine of those killed were aboard the helicopter, which was transporting Monastyrsky, his deputy Evgeny Yenin and other high-ranking Interior Ministry officials, according to the head of Ukraine’s National Police Igor Klimenko. The ill-fated aircraft belonged to the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry, he added.
The helicopter crashed near a kindergarten and an apartment block in Brovary, a town of around 110,000 people, located about eight kilometers northeast of Kiev.
The Interior Ministry said it’s looking into several possible reasons for the crash, including malfunction of equipment, violation of security rules and sabotage.