Russian drone strike on Kyiv-area warehouse kills dozens

Deadly strike near Kyiv

At least 27 people were killed when a Russian drone struck a warehouse in the Bucha district outside Kyiv late Friday, triggering a massive fire and explosions, according to Ukrainian officials. Kyiv regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Saturday: "Unfortunately, as things stand, 27 people are known to have died. And this figure may not be final."

Among the dead was Taras Didych, the head of the Dmytrivka community, who Tkachenko said was one of the first to rush to the scene to rescue people. The strike hit a warehouse in the village of Myla, which Ukrainian prosecutors said appeared to be storing "explosive objects." The attack damaged at least 50 residential buildings, including a care home for elderly and disabled people, and forced more than 370 people to evacuate the area. Tkachenko said 42 people, including four children, were injured.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement that "a warehouse was struck, followed by a detonation," and that nearby infrastructure suffered "significant damage." He confirmed that criminal proceedings had been opened on charges of official negligence, stating: "There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas."

The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office said it had launched a pre-trial investigation into possible "negligence" surrounding storage conditions at the warehouse. The investigation would focus on "the legality of the placement and storage of explosive objects and materials on the territory of the enterprise, the availability of the necessary permits and approvals, as well as the actions of officials who made the relevant decisions," the office said in a statement.

Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi expressed regret that lessons had not been learned from a previous deadly strike on a munitions depot in Vyshneve in July, in which 22 people were killed. An investigation into that incident revealed "serious failings" by a state-owned company that did not comply with regulations on the proximity of residential buildings. Koretskyi said: "Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson."

Broader overnight attacks

The strike on the warehouse was part of a wider overnight assault. Ukraine's air force said Russia launched two missiles and 267 drones at Ukraine between late Friday and early Saturday. Local air defences shot down or "neutralised" 233 of the drones, according to Ukrainian military sources.

Russian attacks also killed one person in the southern Odesa region and a 14-year-old girl in the Kyiv suburb of Boryspil, Tkachenko said. In the southern Kherson region, two people were killed and 27 wounded on Saturday, a local official said. In the Odesa region, eight trucks transporting food were set ablaze in a separate attack.

President Zelenskyy reported further overnight strikes in the regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia. He expressed condolences to the families of the victims and said more than 300 emergency respondents had been deployed to the strike area.

In Russia, at least three people were killed and nine wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Belgorod region, according to a statement from the region's governor. Another person was killed and three injured in a Ukrainian drone attack in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, said Mikhail Razvozhayev, the city's Russian-installed governor. Rostov Governor Yuri Slusar said seven people were injured in an attack on his region.

Official responses

Zelenskyy said the attack followed two days of constant air raids aimed at the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region. "Kyiv is under virtually nonstop attack from jet-powered drones. Ukraine cannot be left alone in finding solutions to defend against such strikes," he said.

Russia's ministry of defence said it had hit a warehouse in Myla storing components and launch boosters for long-range drones, according to a report that could not be independently verified.

The death toll from the warehouse strike may rise as search and rescue operations continue, Tkachenko said. Emergency teams were still working at the scene on Saturday morning, inspecting buildings for damage.