The helicopter crash near a kindergarten outside the Ukrainian capital Kyiv killed 16 including Ukraine interior minister

"In total, 16 people are currently known to have died," the head of national police, Igor Klymenko, said. Among the dead are several top officials of the interior ministry including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, he said.

Denys Monastyrsky, a 42-year-old father of two, was appointed as Ukraine's interior minister in 2021.

Russian and Ukrainian forces fought for control of Brovary in the early stages of Moscow's invasion until Russia's troops withdrew in early April.

Nine of those killed were aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, Kyiv’s eastern suburb, police informed. Two children were among the dead and 10 of them were in hospital, officials said, as per news agency Reuters.

The crash came on the heels of a tragedy that saw 45 people including six children die when a Russian missile struck a residential building in the eastern city of Dnipro at the weekend.

Earlier, the head of the Kyiv regional administration Oleksiy Kuleba said, “In the city of Brovary, a helicopter fell near a kindergarten and a residential building. At the time of the tragedy, children and employees were in the kindergarten.”

Russia and Ukraine fiercely fought over the control of Brovary during the early stages of Vladimir Putin's invasion in February. Russian troops withdrew from Brovary in early April.