At least 16 people, including Ukraine’s interior minister, have been killed in a helicopter crash near a kindergarten outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday. According to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, the aircraft fell in the town of Brovary, some 20 kilometres northeast of Kyiv, while children and staff were inside the kindergarten.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, who was aboard the helicopter with other ministry officials, was killed in the crash, Ukrainian national police chief Igor Klymenko said in a statement on social media. Sixteen other people were killed, including two children, Tymoshenko said. 

At least 22 people, 10 of whom are children, have been hospitalised with injuries. The cause of the crash is unclear. Ukraine’s interior ministry said it is considering sabotage, equipment malfunction and violation of safety rules as possible causes.

All students and staff have been evacuated from the building, the head of the Kyiv regional administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, said on his Telegram channel. Police and medics are working at the scene of the crash, he said.

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