At least 37 people have been killed following a Russian attack on the Bucha district, close to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, officials said Saturday.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the local regional military administration, said that at least 50 residential buildings had been damaged in the attack, which also sparked a large-scale fire that spread to homes and a restaurant.
Warehouse blast sparks evacuation
In a statement, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that a warehouse had been struck in the village of Myla “followed by a detonation.”
He did not give details on the site, but wrote in the same message that criminal proceedings had been opened on charges of official negligence.
“There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian leader wrote that a care home for elderly people and people with disabilities and residential buildings were damaged.
“More than 370 people have already been evacuated, and the evacuation is ongoing,” he said.
Zelenskyy, PM question safety lapses
Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi also didn't offer information on the warehouse targeted, but referenced an attack on the Kyiv suburb of Vyshneve earlier in the month, which hit an ammunition depot, killing 22 and triggering large detonations and fires that tore through nearby homes.
“Unfortunately, we can already see that the terrible tragedy in Vyshneve did not become a lesson,” Koretskyi said. “In the fifth year of a full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes is criminal negligence. And all those guilty, without exception, must be severely punished so that such situations do not happen again.”
Russia says drone components warehouse targeted
In a statement, Russia's Ministry of Defense said that it had hit a warehouse in Myla storing components and launch boosters for long-range drones.
It also said that it had attacked the ports of Mykolaiv and Izmail, as well as a logistics center and warehouse facilities storing parts for Ukraine's Flamingo cruise missiles in the Kyiv region.
Almost constant air raids in Kyiv have now reached their third day, choking the economy in the Ukrainian capital and severely disrupting civilian life more than 4½ years after Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbour.
Two killed, 27 injured in Kherson
Elsewhere, Russian attacks across Ukraine's southern Kherson region Saturday killed two people and wounded 27 more, a local official said.
Oleksandr Prokudin, head of the region administration, said that attacks had damaged homes and apartment blocks, and that one child was among the injured.
Earlier in the week, Prokudin said that Russia has intensified attacks on critical infrastructure in the region, which is about 70 per cent under Russian control. He also urged tens of thousands of residents to move to safer regions because of the possibility of prolonged power and heating outages this winter.