Please enable JavaScript to view this video and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 videos

A tearful Volodymyr Zelenskyy comforted the grieving relatives of his seven Interior Ministry employees who died in a helicopter crash earlier this week.

Ukraine’s president and his wife attended a memorial service in Kiev for Denys Monastyrskyi and other senior officials who were killed on Wednesday when their helicopter crashed into a children’s room.

Seven others, including a child lying on the ground, died in the crash on the eastern outskirts of the capital on Wednesday. Officials are still looking for the cause.

It was another blow to a nation already mourning the 45 people killed in a Russian missile strike that partially destroyed an apartment building in the southeastern city of Dnipro.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena attend the funeral of Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and other officials from his ministry (Photo: AFP via Getty)

Rescue workers and medical personnel at the scene of the helicopter crash (Photo: EPA)

Parts of a helicopter can be seen at a kindergarten site where a helicopter crashed into civilian infrastructure in Brovary on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine, Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The head of the National Police of Ukraine says a helicopter crashed in a suburb of Kiev in which 16 people were killed, including the interior minister of Ukraine and two children. He said nine of the dead were aboard the rescue helicopter. (AP Photo/Daniel Cole)

Wreck lies on a kindergarten site (Photo: AP)

Apartment building Dnipro destroyed by Russian air raid (Photo: PA)

During the sombre service, Zelensky and his wife placed flowers on each of the seven coffins draped with the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine.

The president then briefly addressed the families as a small orchestra played a mournful adagio.

On Saturday, he wrote on Telegram: “The indescribable grief covers the soul. Ukraine is losing its best sons and daughters every day.”

KYIV, UKRAINE - JANUARY 21: President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends the funeral ceremony for the victims of the helicopter crash in the city of Brovary on January 21, 2023 in Kyiv, Ukraine. At least 18 people, including three children, were killed in a helicopter crash in the town of Brovary in Ukraine's Kiev region, along with Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, his deputy Yevhen Yenin and Interior Minister Yurii Lubkovych. (Photo by Mustafa Ciftci/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

The President of Ukraine visited a memorial to the victims of the crash (Photo: Anadolu Agency via Getty)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena offer their condolences to the bereaved at the funeral ceremony of Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and other employees of his department at the Ukrainian House in Kiev on January 21, 2023. - Ukrainian Interior Minister Business Denys Monastyrsky was killed on January 18, 2023 in a helicopter crash in Brovary. Fourteen people were killed, other ministry officials and a child. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY/AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Comforting mourners (Photo: AFP via Getty)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and his wife Olena (L) offer their condolences during the funeral ceremony of Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and other staff members of his department at the Ukrainian House in Kiev, January 21, 2023. The interior of Denys Monastyrsky was buried on January 18. Killed in a helicopter crash in Brovary in January 2023. Fourteen people were killed, other ministry officials and a child. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY/AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

The president appeared emotional as he spoke to relatives (Image: AFP via Getty)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (center) and his wife Olena (L) offer their condolences at the funeral ceremony of Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and other staff members of his department at the Ukrainian House in Kiev January 21, 2023 The Interior Denys Monastyrsky was buried on January 18. Killed in a helicopter crash in Brovary in January 2023. Fourteen people were killed, other ministry officials and a child. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY/AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky was killed in a helicopter crash in Brovary (Photo: AFP via Getty)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his wife Olena attend the funeral ceremony of Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky and other associates of his department at the House of Ukraine in Kyiv on January 21, 2023. - Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky came on January 18, 2023 in a helicopter crash in Brovary. Fourteen people were killed, other ministry officials and a child. (Photo by Sergei SUPINSKY/AFP) (Photo by SERGEI SUPINSKY/AFP via Getty Images)

Zelensky and his wife placed flowers on each of the seven coffins draped with the blue and yellow flags of Ukraine (Image: AFP via Getty)

Ruslan Stefanchuk, Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament, said after the service: “All this would not have happened without this terrible and undeclared war that the Russian Federation is waging against Ukraine.

“So we have to remember and not forget these people. Because for Ukraine and the Ukrainians, every life lost is a great tragedy.”

The war in Ukraine, which started at the end of 9/11e Month, is “in a stalemate” with Ukrainian forces likely to make small gains in the northeast near the town of Kreminna, while Russian troops in the eastern town of Soledar are “likely to rebuild” after being captured by the British Ministry earlier this week The Ministry of Defense announced this on Saturday.

There is “a realistic possibility of a local Russian advance” around Bakhmut, a city in the east whose capture would give the Kremlin its long-awaited victory after months of battlefield setbacks, the department added in its daily update.

Fierce fighting raged around Bakhmut and three civilians were killed by Russian shelling in that area of ​​the eastern Donetsk region, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office reported Saturday morning.

A total of five civilians have been killed and 13 wounded by Russian shelling in the past 24 hours in eastern and southern Ukraine, where fighting rages, Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in a Telegram post.

Ukrainian troops repulsed Russian attacks in Bakhmut and other parts of the country’s disputed east overnight, the army said in a Facebook update Saturday morning.

A 60-year-old woman has been killed after Russian shells hit her home in the northeastern region of Kharkov, local governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a Telegram update.

He added that four other people were injured in the province.

A woman was also killed in the southern region of Zaporizhia, where Russian troops fired more than 160 shells overnight, Governor Oleksandr Starukh said in a telegram message.

He said 21 towns and villages were attacked and two other civilians were injured.

.