KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian strike on a Ukrainian ammunition depot in the village of Myla, west of Kyiv, killed at least 37 people on Friday, many of them elderly, and caused significant destruction to surrounding civilian areas, Ukrainian officials said. The attack, followed by powerful secondary explosions, marked one of the deadliest incidents in Ukraine this year.
The explosions resulted from munitions stored at the site, including shells, mines, and drones, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described as improperly kept too close to residential buildings, a nursing home, and a hospital. “The situation is horrific, and it’s a terrible display of negligence on the part of those who stored explosive materials so close to people,” Zelensky said in a video address Saturday, warning that the death toll could rise. He also announced a criminal investigation into the management of the facility.
The blast occurred as Kyiv endured days of continuous Russian drone attacks, which have strained Ukraine’s limited air defenses and exhausted civilians. The Ukrainian government has called the storage of weapons in populated areas negligent and vowed stricter oversight following this and a similar incident last month in Vyshneve, where a weapons depot destruction killed multiple people.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi condemned the repeated mistakes in storing ammunition near residential zones as “criminal negligence” and insisted that those responsible must face severe consequences.
Hospital staff in Bucha described the grim aftermath. Among the dead was an elderly man who arrived with severe burns and stopped breathing by the afternoon. Another man, Oleh, 49, suffered broken ribs while fleeing the secondary blasts after rushing to the scene, unaware of the depot’s nature. He remains hospitalized and uncertain if colleagues, including a guard, survived.
Local residents recounted their shock and trauma. Valeriia and Oleh Biliuk were celebrating their son’s second birthday near the depot when the attack began. They and their children sought shelter in a basement as shock waves shattered their home’s upper floors. “We were sure it’s a safe place and there was nothing here that would be a target,” Valeriia Biliuk said, emphasizing the community’s unawareness of the depot’s presence.
Neighbor Tetiana Yalovchak, a Ukrainian mountain climber, returned to a neighborhood damaged by flying debris and broken glass. Despite the destruction and ongoing air raid warnings, her husband, temporarily permitted to return from military service, assisted with restoring electricity.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense confirmed it struck the Myla depot, claiming it stored components and launch boosters for long-range drones. The attack comes amid an intensified campaign by Moscow, exploiting Ukraine’s shortage of Patriot interceptor missiles to launch high-speed drone strikes targeting military and civilian infrastructure.
Kyiv continues to face a grim challenge as Russian strikes persist, with civilians bracing for further assaults amid concerns that drone attacks aim to deplete Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of possible larger ballistic missile attacks in the near future.