Abu Zeid expressed Egypt’s sympathy to the families of the victims and wished a speedy recovery to those injured in the crash.

The helicopter crash in a Kyiv suburb killed 18 people, including three children, Ukrainian authorities said.

There is no immediate word on whether the crash was an accident or a result of the war with Russia, according to AFP. No fighting has been reported recently in the Kyiv area.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yurii Lubkovych were among those killed, according to Ihor Klymenko, chief of Ukraine's National Police.

Monastyrskyi, who was in charge of the Ukrainian police and other emergency services, is the most senior Ukrainian official to have died since the start of the war with Russia almost 11 months ago.

Nine of those killed were aboard the emergency services helicopter that crashed in Brovary, an eastern suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Klymenko said.