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UPDATE: Ukraine's interior minister, 16 others die in helicopter crash near Kyiv

18.01.2023 23:00
Seventeen people, including Ukraine's interior minister and four children, were killed when a helicopter crashed near Kyiv on Wednesday, officials said in an updated casualty toll.
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Rescuers work at the site of the helicopter crash in Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.
Rescuers work at the site of the helicopter crash in Brovary, near Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, January 18, 2023.Photo: EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

The machine crashed near a kindergarten and a residential building in Brovary, northeast of the Ukrainian capital, according to news reports.

The national police chief said that Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky had been killed along with his first deputy, Yevhen Yenin, and another senior ministry official.

Monastyrsky was 42 and had been interior minister since July 2021.

The State Emergency Service put the death toll at 17, including three helicopter crew and six others on board, the Reuters news agency reported.

Four children were among those killed on the ground and 11 children were among 25 other injured people, it said.

The SBU State Security Service said it was considering several possible causes for the crash, including a breach of flight rules, a technical malfunction and the intentional destruction of the helicopter, according to Reuters.

Halyna Pastushuk has the story.

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