A devastating Russian strike near Kyiv has killed at least 37 people, marking one of the year's deadliest attacks in Ukraine. The incident has triggered a political firestorm after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed "terrible negligence" by officials who illegally stored explosives near a residential area and a care home.
The attack on Saturday targeted the village of Myla in the Bucha district, west of the capital. It ignited a massive fire that swept through the area, damaging at least 50 residential buildings, according to Tymur Tkachenko, head of the local regional military administration. Following the initial strike, secondary detonations rocked the site, raising critical questions about safety protocols.
Among the damaged structures was a care home for the elderly and disabled. Tkachenko later confirmed to Ukrainian media that 34 of the 37 victims killed in the tragedy were residents of this care facility. An evacuation of the area was launched immediately following the strike.
President Zelenskyy expressed deep anger over the incident, stating that Ukrainian law strictly forbids storing ammunition near civilian homes. "Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions," Zelenskyy declared, adding that criminal proceedings had been launched. He later announced that two officials from state-owned enterprises, including the country's largest arms manufacturer, Ukroboronprom, had illegally authorized the weapons storage in Vyshneve and would face prosecution.
Local official Koretskyi echoed these criticisms, calling the incident "criminal negligence" in the fifth year of Russia's full-scale invasion. "Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson," Koretskyi said, urging severe punishment for those responsible to prevent future disasters.
Russia's Ministry of Defense claimed responsibility for targeting the site, stating it had struck a warehouse in Myla containing components and launch boosters for long-range drones. Moscow also reported launching strikes on the southern ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, as well as a logistics hub and storage facilities for Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles in the Kyiv region.
The strike comes amid a relentless three-day wave of Russian air raids on Kyiv, which have severely disrupted civilian life and strained the local economy more than four and a half years after the invasion began. Ukrainian officials noted that Russia has been accumulating missile stockpiles to conduct massive, multi-day aerial assaults designed to overwhelm and exhaust Ukraine's air defenses.
Meanwhile, in the southern Kherson region, Russian shelling on Saturday killed two people and wounded 27 others, including a child, according to regional administration head Oleksandr Prokudin. Prokudin noted that Russia has intensified its targeting of critical infrastructure in Kherson—which is approximately 70% under Russian control—and urged tens of thousands of residents to evacuate to safer regions to avoid winter power and heating blackouts.
Ukraine is also grappling with Russia's increased deployment of advanced jet-powered drones. Pavlo Palisa, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, told reporters in embargoed comments released Saturday that Moscow is scaling up its use of these high-speed weapons. Palisa admitted that Ukraine's current interceptor drones have not performed as effectively as hoped against jet-powered models, though development of new defensive solutions is underway. "Means of attack always outpace means of defense. We will certainly need to adapt. It will take time," he said.
To counter Moscow's campaign, Kyiv has expanded its own long-range drone strikes against Russian military industries and energy infrastructure. Zelenskyy stated in his Friday evening address that Ukraine aims to scale up its operations to launch 1,000 long-range drones daily, up from its current average of over 300. He referred to these strikes, which recently targeted major Russian online retailers, as "long-range sanctions."
On the Russian side, the Ministry of Defense reported that its air defenses destroyed 313 Ukrainian drones overnight. In Russia's Rostov region, Governor Yuri Slyusar stated on social media that Ukrainian drone strikes wounded 11 people, including four children, with nine individuals requiring hospitalization.
