A Russian missile strike near the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv resulted in at least 37 deaths on Saturday, marking one of the most lethal attacks in the country this year. The bombardment ignited a massive fire in the Bucha district, west of the capital, which devastated dozens of homes and damaged at least 50 residential buildings, according to Tymur Tkachenko, the head of the local regional military administration.
The incident occurred amid a relentless three-day wave of Russian air raids that have severely disrupted civilian life and strained the economy more than four and a half years into the full-scale invasion. The strike on the village of Myla triggered secondary explosions, leading President Volodymyr Zelensky to condemn the incident as a “terrible situation” and a case of “terrible negligence on the part of those who stored explosives right next to people.”
Zelensky confirmed that a warehouse in Myla was hit, which subsequently detonated. He noted that Ukrainian law strictly prohibits the storage of ammunition near civilian housing and announced that criminal proceedings have been initiated. The president emphasized that those responsible for the decision to store weapons in such a vulnerable location must be held accountable.
Reports from regional authorities suggest the human toll was exacerbated by the proximity of a care home for the elderly and disabled to the blast site. Tymur Tkachenko indicated that 34 of the 37 victims were residents of this facility. Evacuation efforts for the remaining occupants are currently underway.
Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi expressed deep frustration, noting that the tragedy mirrors a similar incident in the suburb of Vyshneve last July, where an ammunition depot explosion killed 22 people. “Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,” Koretskyi stated, adding that repeating such errors during wartime constitutes criminal negligence that requires severe punishment.
In response to the strike, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed its forces targeted a warehouse in Myla used to store components and launch boosters for long-range drones. The ministry also reported additional strikes on logistics centers and facilities in the Kyiv region associated with Flamingo cruise missiles, as well as port infrastructure in Mykolaiv and Izmail.
Following the disaster, President Zelensky announced that two officials from state-owned enterprises, including the major arms producer Ukroboronprom, have been identified for their roles in illegally authorizing weapon storage at the Vyshneve site and will face legal consequences.
The broader conflict continues to intensify, with Ukrainian officials reporting that Russia is attempting to exhaust national air defenses by launching frequent, large-scale missile and drone attacks. Meanwhile, in the southern Kherson region, local administration head Oleksandr Prokudin reported that separate Russian strikes on Saturday resulted in two deaths and 27 injuries, including one child, while causing significant damage to residential apartment blocks. The report also notes that choking the economy in the Ukrainian capital and severely disrupting civilian life more than 4½ years after Russia’s full-scale invasio, the strike comes as almost constant Russian air raids on Kyiv reach their third day. The report also notes that hoping to exhaust Ukrainian defenses through the sheer weight of numbers, ukrainian officials say Russia builds up missile stocks and launches major attacks every few days.