A helicopter carrying the leadership team of Ukraine’s Interior Ministry crashed near a kindergarten and residential block in the Kyiv region on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people, including all nine people on board, according to officials.

A further 25 people were injured following the incident in the city of Brovary Wednesday, including 11 children, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Fourteen bodies were found at the crash site, including one child and all nine people who were on board the helicopter — six ministry officials and three crew members, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES).

Ukrainian National Police confirmed that Interior Minister Denis Monastyrsky, First Deputy Minister Yevheniy Yenin and State Secretary Yuriy Lubkovychis were among the dead.

The official cause for the crash has yet to be announced, and there has been no suggestion from any Ukrainian officials about Russian involvement.

“Ukraine lost the whole generation of young politicians…it’s a huge grief for everyone,” Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian government, told CNN on Wednesday.

When asked why the entire leadership of the Interior Ministry was traveling together, Gerashchenko replied: “I think this bloody lesson will be a clear example for us that such high politicians and ministers cannot travel altogether. But this tragedy brought the death of children which is amazingly horrible — and obviously everyone who died — every life of every Ukrainian is priceless.”

The crash has stunned the country at a critical moment in the war: Ukraine has been imploring Western allies for more weaponry as Russian strikes hit its critical infrastructure and civilian populations with abandon.

/CNN