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At least 37 people have been killed after Russia attacked a Ukrainian ammunition depot with a drone as strikes on Kyiv continued for a third day.
Fire erupted at the depot, in the village of Myla in Kyiv’s Bucha district, as more than 200 people evacuated their homes and 50 residential buildings were destroyed.
Ukraine‘s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said the warehouse had been struck ‘followed by a detonation’.
He also announced a probe had been launched into the matter. It is forbidden to store ammunition close to civilian homes in Ukraine.
Air raid sirens sounded 11 times in 24 hours as further drone and missile attacks were expected.
One home in Bucha was destroyed and seven others damaged as the depot fire spread to residential areas.
‘Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions,’ Zelenskyy said.
A care home for elderly people and people with disabilities had been damaged, and an evacuation is ongoing, he added.
Prime Minister Serhii Korteskyi did not share information about the incident and instead referenced a previous attack on another ammunition depot in July.
The warehouse, located in the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve, was targeted in an attack that killed 22, triggering large detonations and fires that tore through homes.
‘Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,’ Koretskyi said.
At least 37 people have been killed after Russia attacked a Ukrainian ammunition depot with a drone as strikes on Kyiv continued for a third day (Pictured: A firefighter tackles the blaze)
Fire erupted at the depot, in the village of Myla in Kyiv’s Bucha district, as more than 200 people evacuated their homes and 50 residential buildings were destroyed
‘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.’
Meanwhile, the Kremlin confirmed it had struck the warehouse in Myia, claiming it stored launch boosters and long-range drones.
It also said it had attacked Mykolaiv, Izmail, and a logistics centre and warehouse facilities storing parts for Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missiles in the Kyiv region
Zelenskyy later announced that two officials from state-owned companies, including Ukraine’s largest arms producer, Ukroboronprom, had illegally allowed the storage of weapons on the site in Vyshneve and would be held accountable.
Kyiv’s regional military administration chief Timur Tkachenko expressed his ‘sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed’ in the latest attack on Myla
The attack on the Ukrainian village comes as Russia enters its third successive day of trying to paralyse Kyiv.
Russian strikes on the southern Kherson region Saturday killed two people and wounded 27 more, Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the region administration, said.
Homes and apartment blocks were damaged in the strike, and one child was among the injured, he added.
Explosions rocked Kyiv during a three-day barrage as Russia struck an ammunition store in the Bucha district
Earlier in the week, Prokudin said that Russia has intensified attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, which is about 70 per cent under Russian control.
He also urged tens of thousands of residents to move to safer regions because of the possibility of prolonged power and heating outages this winter.
Russia has significantly increased its use of jet-powered drones, and their numbers will keep growing as Moscow sees their effectiveness, said Pavlo Palisa, the deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office.
‘Means of attack always outpace means of defence. We will certainly need to adapt. It will take time,’ Palisa said.
He said interceptor drones currently available to Ukraine, which could theoretically intercept jet-powered drones, have not yet demonstrated the expected effectiveness, though Ukraine is working on solutions.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has stepped up its long-range attacks on Russian military industries and energy facilities in recent months, using locally made drones, aiming to cut Moscow’s revenue for its invasion and make Russians feel the consequences.
In his evening statement to the nation Friday, Zelenskyy said Kyiv hoped to increase its long-range strikes on Russia to reach 1000 drone launches every day.
‘Right now, we average over 300 of our long-range strikes,’ Zelenskyy said, his preferred term for Kyiv’s long-range attacks that have also lately targeted Russian large-scale online retailers.
‘There must be more. We have a very specific goal, and we will achieve it.’
Moscow’s forces destroyed 313 Ukrainian drones overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday.
Ukrainian drone attacks wounded 11 people in Russia’s Rostov region, Governor Yuri Slyusar said.
Writing on social media, he said that nine people were hospitalised, including four children.
Putin’s latest attacks came the week after CIA director John Ratcliffe made a secret trip to Moscow, which prompted speculation the Russian leader may have threatened the Baltic states.
Dark smoke rose into the sky above Kyiv on Saturday morning after a third day of Russian strikes
Residents passed the site of a Russian drone strike as Putin’s barrage against Kyiv passed the 50-hour mark
Fire crews closed a highway and battled blazes across Kyiv after the latest attacks from Moscow
US media reported Mr Ratcliffe warned Russia against attacking Nato members – particularly Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – amid warnings Moscow could try to test the alliance.
But experts said there was no sign of the large-scale military build-up that preceded the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Overnight Ukraine targeted Russia’s Rostov region, hitting a warehouse owned by retail chain DNS and Amazon-style online marketplace Ozon with drones.
Residents said there were dozens of explosions as the DNS depot was engulfed in flames while a shipbuilding plant was also hit.
Ukrainian strikes have crippled the region’s ports and prevented agricultural exports, prompting a state of emergency as farmers complained of an unprecedented collapse in wheat prices.
Drones intercepted by Russia damaged tower blocks in Aksay, Rostov-on-Don, where seven people were injured.
And in the occupied Kherson region, Ukrainian strikes on power plants caused widespread blackouts.