The Ukrainian capital suffered a major incident when a Russian drone struck a depot storing weapons for Ukraine’s armed forces on the outskirts in the Myla village, a suburb of Kyiv. The strike resulted in 37 confirmed deaths and 42 injuries, including four children, and forced the evacuation of close to 400 residents from the surrounding area.
The explosion triggered the detonation of shells, mines and additional drones, sending a massive blast that damaged a nearby care home for the elderly and disabled. The damage extended to roughly 130 homes in the village. Local residents described cracks forming around the perimeter of the depot and around windows, with structural integrity severely compromised. One resident, Liubov Pavlenko, said she felt numb and expected the damage to worsen in the coming days.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the storage of explosives in such proximity to a residential area, calling the practice “absolutely unacceptable.” He announced that criminal proceedings had been opened against officials involved in the depot’s placement and that an investigation would examine the legality of such storage near homes.
The Myla depot has recently been highlighted as a point of contention; the Russian Ministry of Defence identified it as an ammunition depot holding components for long‑range unmanned aerial vehicles. The incident represents the second depots hit near Kyiv in the past months, amplifying anger and raising concerns about Ukrainian military logistics management.
The investigation is underway, with Ukraine’s prosecutor general reviewing the legality of storing explosive materials near residential buildings and the decisions made by officials. Zelensky reiterated that strict regulations govern ammunition storage and that “appropriate conclusions will certainly be drawn” from the findings.
Related incidents include a July attack on a depot in Vyshneve that killed nine people, injured many and damaged over 280 homes. The attack highlighted prior failures that the new investigation seeks to address. Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky condemned the repeated mistakes, labeling them as criminal negligence and urging severe punishment for those responsible.
Meanwhile, Russia continued aerial attacks, with local authorities reporting casualties in Belgorod and Rostov regions, and the Russian‑appointed governor of an occupied Ukrainian region reporting injuries from a Ukrainian strike on a shopping centre. Ukrainian forces claimed to have shot down 233 Russian drones overnight, while strikes on Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia further expanded these hostilities.
