Russian strike near Kyiv kills at least 37

A Russian strike on a warehouse near Kyiv set off explosions and a fast-moving fire that killed at least 37 people, Ukrainian officials said Saturday, making it one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine this year.

The strike hit the village of Myla in the Bucha district, west of the capital, and damaged at least 50 residential buildings, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the Kyiv regional military administration. Al Jazeera reported, citing authorities, that the fire spread to homes and a restaurant and that close to 400 people were being evacuated from the area. Dozens of injuries were reported.

“Unfortunately, the number of dead in the Bucha district has risen to 37… Rescuers and all relevant services are continuing their operations at the scene of the tragedy,” Tkachenko said on Telegram, according to Al Jazeera.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the warehouse was struck “followed by a detonation,” and described a “terrible situation” caused by “terrible negligence on the part of those who stored explosives right next to people.” He said Ukrainian law forbids storing ammunition near civilian homes and that criminal proceedings had been opened.

“Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions,” Zelenskyy said.

Ukrainian prosecutors said the warehouse appeared to have been storing “explosive objects,” according to Al Jazeera. They said the investigation would examine “the legality of the storage of explosive objects and materials on the enterprise’s grounds” and whether the unnamed company responsible had the required permits and approvals.

Zelenskyy also said a care home for elderly people and people with disabilities was damaged and that evacuations were underway. NPR reported that Tkachenko was later cited by Ukrainian media as saying 34 of those killed were residents of the care facility. Al Jazeera reported that among the dead was Taras Didych, mayor of the village of Dmytrivska.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi compared the incident with a deadly July strike on an ammunition depot in Vyshneve, near Kyiv, which killed 22 people and triggered explosions and fires that tore through nearby homes.

“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’s Ministry of Defense said it had hit a warehouse in Myla storing components and launch boosters for long-range drones. It also said it attacked the ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, as well as a logistics center and warehouse facilities in the Kyiv region storing parts for Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles.

The attack came as Russian air raids on Kyiv continued for a third day. Al Jazeera reported that Russia launched at least two missiles and 267 drones at Ukraine between late Friday and early Saturday, citing the Ukrainian Air Force. Ukrainian officials say Russia has been building missile stocks and launching major attacks every few days to strain air defenses.

Elsewhere, Russian strikes on the southern Kherson region killed two people and wounded 27, including a child, regional head Oleksandr Prokudin said. Al Jazeera reported that other Russian attacks early Saturday killed three people, including a two-year-old in Kyiv and a 14-year-old girl in the capital’s outer suburbs.

Ukraine has also increased long-range strikes inside Russia. Zelenskyy said Friday that Kyiv hopes to reach 1,000 drone launches a day. Russia’s Ministry of Defense said Saturday it destroyed 313 Ukrainian drones overnight. Russian officials reported casualties in several regions, including Belgorod, Rostov and Russian-annexed Sevastopol.