In an escalation of the months-long exchange of long-range strikes between Moscow and Kyiv, a Russian drone attack on an industrial depot in the western outskirts of Kyiv early Saturday has left at least 27 people dead, triggered massive explosions and a large blaze that damaged nearby civilian infrastructure. Ukrainian authorities have opened a criminal investigation focused on potential safety negligence over the storage of explosive materials at the site, located in the small town of Myla, just outside the capital.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed the casualties in a post on social media platform X, noting that among the dead was Taras Didych, head of the local Dmytrivka community, who died while evacuating and rescuing residents. The blast caused extensive damage to adjacent residential neighborhoods, as well as a care facility for elderly and disabled residents, Zelenskyy added. The president emphasized that ammunition and explosive materials should never be stored in close proximity to civilian residential areas, and said any parties found responsible for safety lapses must face accountability.
AFP correspondents on the scene reported seeing a towering plume of black smoke rising over Kyiv’s western suburbs, with local authorities ordering the evacuation of hundreds of residents from the high-risk area surrounding the depot. Officials have not yet publicly confirmed whether the facility was operated as a military or civilian enterprise.
Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office outlined the scope of its ongoing investigation, confirming the strike took place around 8:10 pm local time (1710 GMT) on August 28. Investigators will examine whether the storage of explosive objects at the site complied with national safety regulations, and whether the unnamed facility owner held all required permits and approvals for the activity.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal (corrected from original misnomer) harshly criticized what he called repeated and unlearned mistakes, noting that a similar deadly strike on a Kyiv-region munitions depot in July already revealed severe regulatory violations by a state-owned company, which failed to follow rules requiring safe distance from residential buildings. “In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes over and over is criminal negligence,” Shmyhal wrote on Telegram. “Everyone responsible, without exception, must face severe punishment so that such situations never happen again.”
The Myla depot strike was part of a sweeping wave of Russian air attacks across Ukraine between late Friday and early Saturday. Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia launched at least two missiles and 266 drones in the assault. Additional strikes across the country left one person dead in the southern Odesa region and a 14-year-old girl killed in Boryspil, another Kyiv suburb, regional officials confirmed.
The coordinated wave of attacks extended into Russian territory as well, where reciprocal Ukrainian strikes left three people dead in the Belgorod region and sparked a major fire at a warehouse operated by major Russian online retailer Ozon. Russian-appointed officials in Sevastopol, Crimea, also reported one fatality from a Ukrainian strike on the city.
The latest escalation comes amid a months-long stalemate in U.S.-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, which is Europe’s deadliest since World War II. Russia has demanded extensive territorial and political concessions from Ukraine, terms Kyiv has repeatedly rejected as equivalent to total surrender. The rising tensions follow an unannounced visit by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe to Moscow earlier this week, occurring as the conflict enters its fifth year of full-scale hostilities.