A Russian drone strike on a warehouse near Kyiv’s western suburbs has killed at least 37 people, according to Ukrainian officials. The attack, which targeted a facility in the town of Myla in the Bucha district, also injured 42 people, including four children, and damaged at least 50 residential buildings.
Warehouse strike triggers massive fire and explosions
The regional governor, Tymur Tkachenko, confirmed the casualty figures and said the warehouse appeared to be storing “explosive objects.” The strike sparked a huge fire and a series of explosions, which also damaged a care home for elderly and disabled people in the area.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement that more than 370 people had been evacuated from the area, with the evacuation process still ongoing. He described the attack as a strike on a warehouse “followed by a detonation,” and noted that criminal proceedings had been opened on charges of official negligence.
Official negligence allegations and investigation
Zelenskyy emphasized that regulations prohibit storing ammunition near homes or residential areas. “As of now, 27 people have been reported killed. One of those killed was the head of the Dmytrivka community, Taras Didych. He was rescuing people,” he added.
Ukrainian prosecutors said that after an unmanned aerial vehicle hit the grounds of an enterprise in Myla, “a large-scale fire broke out … and detonation began.” They have opened an investigation into the legality of the “storage of explosive objects and materials” on the enterprise’s grounds.
Previous incident raises questions about preparedness
The Ukrainian prime minister, Serhii Koretskyi, expressed regret that lessons had not been learned from a previous deadly strike on a munitions depot in Vyshneve, near Kyiv, in July. That incident killed 22 people and caused fires that tore through nearby homes. An investigation revealed serious failings by a state-owned company, which did not comply with regulations on the proximity of residential buildings.
“Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,” Koretskyi said. “In the fifth year of a full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes is criminal negligence. And all those guilty, without exception, must be severely punished so that such situations do not happen again.”
Russia claims strike on drone components; other attacks reported
In a statement, Russia’s ministry of defence said it had hit a warehouse in Myla storing components and launch boosters for long-range drones. It also claimed attacks on the ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, as well as a logistics centre and warehouse facilities storing parts for Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles in the Kyiv region.
Elsewhere, Russian attacks across Ukraine’s southern Kherson region killed two people and wounded 27 more on Saturday, including a child, a local official said.
