Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj is dead. According to the police, he died in a helicopter crash.
Update from January 18, 11:38 a.m .:
Friedrich Merz reacted with “great dismay” to the helicopter crash with many deaths in Ukraine.
"This is a great tragedy for Ukraine, especially in the current situation in this country," said the CDU leader to journalists in Berlin.
"Our heartfelt condolences go to the families and relatives, but also to the Ukrainian President Zelenskyy, to whom I have already expressed my condolences, and to the entire Ukrainian people."
Dismay and sadness also prevailed among the EU leaders.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her deepest condolences to the families of the victims, to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to the whole of Ukraine.
"We mourn with you," she tweeted.
EU Council President Charles Michel made a similar statement.
Monastyrskyj was a good friend of the EU.
Many dead in helicopter crash near Kyiv: Ukrainian interior minister dies on the way to the trouble spot
First report from January 18
: Kiev – The Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj died in a helicopter crash near Kiev.
In total there are at least 16 fatalities, said the head of the Ukrainian national police, Igor Klymenko, on Wednesday (January 18).
Deputy Interior Minister Jehwhenij Jenin, a state secretary and two children were among the fatalities.
Ukrainian interior minister dead: helicopter was on the way to a trouble spot
According to Klymenko, according to current knowledge, the crash was an accident.
Monastyrsyj was in the helicopter on the way to a war trouble spot, according to the BBC, the Deputy Chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
Ukrainian interior minister dies in a helicopter crash: Accident near a kindergarten near Kyiv
According to the regional governor responsible, Oleksiy Kuleba, the accident happened near a kindergarten in Brovary.
Children and employees in care were in the building at the time of the crash.
According to official information, 22 people, including ten children, were also taken to hospitals, rescue workers and police officers were on duty at the scene, it said.
Video shows widespread fire after helicopter crash near Kyiv
A widespread fire could be seen on videos from the crash site distributed in online networks.
No information was initially released about the possible cause of the crash.
According to a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, the plane that crashed was part of the government's emergency service in Kyiv and was therefore the responsibility of the Interior Ministry.
The city of Brovary is around 20 kilometers from the center of Kiev.
In the first days of the Ukraine war there had been heavy fighting in the city between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
(dpa/AFP/frs)