Senior Ukrainian official among dead in helicopter crash

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi died Wednesday in a helicopter crash that killed more than a dozen people. The crash occurred near a kindergarten in the capital city of Kyiv. Authorities opened an investigation into the crash, but haven’t said what caused the crash. Fourteen people died, including nine in the helicopter and at least one child on the ground, officials said. An additional 25 people were injured, including 11 children. As a senior official, Monastyrskyi oversaw Ukraine’s police and emergency services.

Was the crash related to the war? It is unclear whether the crash was an accident or related to the ongoing war with Russia. No fighting has been reported in the Kyiv area, according to Ukrainian authorities, and officials routinely travel by helicopter. Monastyrskyi’s deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were also killed.

Dig deeper: Read Jenny Lind Schmitt’s report in WORLD Magazine about sitting with Ukrainians who are coping with the cost of the war.