Date: August 29, 2026
Reporter: Kim White
At least 37 people have been killed after a Russian drone strike hit a warehouse in the Kyiv region of Ukraine, triggering a massive detonation that caused extensive destruction and became one of the deadliest incidents in the area in recent months, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.
The strike occurred on Friday in the village of Myla, in the Bucha district west of Kyiv, as Russia continued a sustained aerial campaign against the Ukrainian capital and surrounding regions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the warehouse was struck during the attack and that the resulting explosion caused significant damage to nearby infrastructure, including residential buildings and a facility providing care for elderly people and people with disabilities.
More than 370 people were evacuated from the area following the explosion, while dozens of others were injured. Emergency crews continued working at the site as authorities searched through the debris and assessed the scale of the destruction.
Zelenskiy said the warehouse had been used to store ammunition, including shells, mines and drones, and questioned why explosive materials had been kept so close to residential communities. He said Ukrainian authorities had opened criminal proceedings over possible official negligence and vowed that those responsible for allowing the dangerous storage arrangement would be held accountable.
The Ukrainian president said existing regulations prohibit the storage of ammunition close to homes and other residential areas, raising concerns that the devastating consequences of the Russian strike may have been worsened by decisions concerning the location and storage of military materials.
The blast caused substantial damage beyond the warehouse itself. Nearby homes were damaged, fires spread through the surrounding area and emergency services were forced to evacuate residents while attempting to contain the aftermath. Local authorities said the destruction affected dozens of residential buildings.
The incident came as Kyiv and surrounding areas endured another intense wave of Russian air attacks. Ukraine's capital was subjected to almost continuous attacks involving drones, while nine other regions were also targeted, according to Zelenskiy.
Ukrainian officials said Russia has increasingly relied on high-speed, jet-powered drones that can be more difficult for air-defense systems to intercept. Air-raid sirens sounded repeatedly across Kyiv on Saturday morning as authorities warned residents about additional waves of drones approaching the capital.
The latest attacks have caused casualties in several locations. In the Boryspil district of the Kyiv region, a 14-year-old girl was killed in a drone strike on Saturday, according to regional governor Tymur Tkachenko. In Kyiv itself, a two-year-old girl was killed after a downed drone struck the area, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.
The warehouse explosion was particularly devastating because of the ammunition stored at the facility. Rather than simply damaging the structure, the initial strike triggered a secondary detonation, dramatically increasing the destruction and casualties.
The incident also revived concerns raised by another deadly explosion in the Kyiv region only weeks earlier. In July, a Russian strike in the town of Vyshneve triggered secondary explosions that killed 10 people and damaged hundreds of homes.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi, who visited the site of Friday's explosion, said the country could not allow similar tragedies to happen repeatedly during the war. He described the latest incident alongside the earlier Vyshneve explosion as a serious failure that required accountability.
The repeated incidents have created difficult questions for Ukrainian authorities, who must simultaneously protect military equipment from Russian attacks while ensuring that ammunition and other dangerous materials are not stored in locations where a strike could cause mass civilian casualties.
Russia has continued intensifying its aerial attacks on Ukraine despite ongoing diplomatic efforts to end the war. Ukrainian officials say the attacks are increasingly aimed at disrupting major cities, transportation networks, warehouses and industrial infrastructure.
The prolonged assault on Kyiv has also disrupted normal life in the capital and surrounding communities, with repeated air-raid alerts, damaged buildings and interruptions to transportation and other essential services.
The warehouse explosion is now among the deadliest incidents in the Kyiv region this year. Ukrainian emergency workers remain at the scene, while authorities continue searching for victims and assessing the full extent of the damage.
The disaster has left dozens of families mourning and hundreds of residents displaced, while Ukraine faces renewed pressure to strengthen both its air defenses and the safety measures surrounding the storage of ammunition and other military materials.
As Russian attacks continue across Kyiv and other parts of Ukraine, the deadly explosion in Myla has become another stark reminder of the devastating consequences of the country's prolonged war and the risks faced by civilians living near military and industrial facilities.