KYIV Eighteen people including Ukraines interior minister, other senior ministry officials and three children were killed on Wednesday morning when a helicopter crashed near a nursery outside Kyiv, Ukrainian officials said.

The helicopter came down close to the nursery and a residential building in Brovary to the north-east of the capital, local officials said.

The regional governor said 29 people were also hurt, including 15 children.

Several dead bodies draped in foil blankets lay in a courtyard near the damaged nursery. Emergency workers were at the scene. Debris was scattered over a playground.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described theincident as a terrible tragedy.

Today, a terrible tragedy occurred in Brovary… The pain is unspeakable, he said in a statement on social media.

National police chief Ihor Klymenkosaid Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, who was appointed under President Volodymyr Zelensky in 2021, was killed. His first deputy, Mr Yevheniy Yenin, and the ministrys state secretary also died, he said.

As a result of the crash in Brovary, the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine was killed. They were in the helicopter of the State Emergency Service,Mr Klymenko said.

Mr Monastyrskyi, responsible for the police and security inside Ukraine, would be the most senior Ukrainian official to die since the war began. Ukraines Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi (right) was appointed by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in 2021. PHOTO: REUTERS Ukraines Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said Mr Monastyrskys death and the two other senior officials was a great loss for Ukraine.

A great loss for the government team and the entire state. My sincere condolences to the families of all the victims. I instructed (officials) to immediately create a special group for a detailed investigation of all the circumstances of the tragedy, Mr Shmygal said.

Videos shared on social media showed a burning building and people could be heard screaming.

There were children and… staff in the nursery at the time of this tragedy, Kyiv region governor Oleksiy Kuleba wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

It was not immediately clear what caused the helicopter to crash.

The helicopter was flying towards frontline regions in eastern Ukraine, the presidency said.

The purpose of the helicopter flight was to carry out work in one of the hot spots of our country where hostilities are ongoing. The interior minister was heading there, the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mr Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on local television.

There was no immediate comment from Russia, whose troops invaded Ukraine last February, and Ukrainian officials made no reference to any Russian attack in the area at the time.

Unfortunately this happened with a state emergency service helicopter which was fulfilling its task, Air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Apostrof TV. More On This Topic Russia fighter jet hits apartments in city near Ukraine, at least 13 killed Official in Russian-controlled Ukraine region killed in car bomb attack Separately, Ukraine reported intense fighting overnight in its east, where both sides have taken huge losses for little gain in intense trench warfare over the last two months.

Ukrainian forces repelled attacks in the eastern city of Bakhmut and the village of Klishchiivka just south of it, the Ukrainian military said.

Russia has focused on Bakhmut in recent weeks, claiming last week to have taken the mining town of Soledar on its northern outskirts.

After major Ukrainian gains in the second half of 2022, the frontlines have hardened over the last two months.

Kyiv says it hopes new Western weapons would allow it to resume an offensive to recapture land, especially heavy tanks that would give its troops mobility and protection to push through Russian lines.

Western allies will be gathering on Friday at a US air base in Germany to pledge more weapons for Ukraine. Attention is focused in particular on Germany, which has veto power over any decision to send its Leopard tanks, which are fielded by armies across Europe and widely seen as the most suitable for Ukraine.

Berlin says a decision on the tanks will be the first item on the agenda of Mr Boris Pistorius, its new defence minister.

Britain, which broke the Western taboo on sending main battle tanks over the weekend by promising a squadron of its Challengers, has called on Germany to approve the Leopards. Poland and Finland have already said they would be ready to send Leopards if Berlin allows it. REUTERS More On This Topic Ukraine demands speedier weapons deliveries from West to confront Russian pressure Henry Kissinger says Russia war validates Ukraine's Nato bid