Ukraine investigates deadly depot blast after Russian strike

Ukraine has opened an investigation into possible negligence after a Russian drone strike hit a warehouse near Kyiv, setting off a fire and explosions that killed at least 27 people and forced nearly 400 others to evacuate.

The strike hit the town of Myla in the Bucha district, where Ukrainian officials said a drone fell on or struck the grounds of an enterprise. A large-scale fire broke out and detonations followed, damaging nearby homes and spreading to residential areas and a restaurant.

Regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said 42 people were injured, including four children. He said at least 50 residential buildings were damaged. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said more than 300 emergency responders had been deployed to the scene, where search and rescue operations were continuing early Saturday.

Among those killed was Taras Didych, the head of the Dmytrivka community, who Zelenskyy said had been helping rescue people.

Zelenskyy said authorities were investigating whether rules had been violated at the site. “The regulations are clear: ammunition must not be stored near houses or other residential buildings,” he wrote on X. “Appropriate conclusions will certainly be drawn.”

The Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office 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 had the required permits and approvals. Zelenskyy did not explicitly say what caused the detonation or what the warehouse was storing when it was hit.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces had targeted “an ammunition depot” in Myla that it said stored “components and launch boosters for FP-1/FP-2 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles,” the BBC reported.

Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky expressed regret that a “lesson” had not been learned from a previous deadly attack in July in Vyshneve, near Kyiv, on a munitions depot. That investigation found serious failings by a state-owned company that had not complied with standards despite the site’s proximity to residential buildings.

Zelenskyy also reported overnight Russian strikes in the Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia regions. Tkachenko said a 14-year-old was killed in a separate attack in the Boryspil district.

“Ukraine cannot be alone in finding solutions to protect against such strikes, and I thank everyone who helps with additional support packages and sanctions against Russia,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

The Ukrainian army said it shot down 233 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles overnight into Saturday.

Inside Russia, local officials said two people were killed and 21 injured in strikes in the Belgorod and Rostov regions over the previous 24 hours, according to the BBC. Russian online retailer Ozon said one of its logistics centers was hit in an overnight Ukrainian drone strike and that it suspended operations at a second logistics center and evacuated staff “due to the danger in the area.”

The BBC reported that Ozon facilities in Krasnodar, Dagestan, Stavropol and Adygea were targeted earlier in the week, causing several injuries and widespread damage. It also reported that Ukraine has for weeks struck sites belonging to Wildberries, Russia’s biggest online retailer, describing the company as a legitimate target because it supplied components to the military, a claim Moscow denies.