38 dead after Russian drone strike on ammunition depot near Kyiv sparks local anger over storage site
A Russian drone strike on an ammunition dump in the village of Myla near Kyiv has killed 38 people, with residents furious that weapons were stored so close to their homes. It is the second such incident in recent months.
A day and a half after a Russian jet-powered drone struck an ammunition depot in Myla, a village 15 miles from central Kyiv, residents are still clearing wreckage from their homes and gardens. The death toll rose to 38 on Sunday, with four people still missing.
Many houses lost their roofs and windows, while gardens were left with shattered greenhouses and scorched vegetable patches. Families are without electricity and water. Witnesses said the initial strike around 8pm was followed by 30 to 50 further explosions over roughly six hours.
Residents blame depot's location
Locals say they had no idea ammunition was being stored in their village — some believed the site held humanitarian aid instead. After the blasts, remnants of a Grad rocket shell, mines and cluster munitions were found on residents' properties; cleanup crews have removed some of it, though munitions reportedly remain scattered in the area.
In the woods behind the gardens, scorched tracks lead to a detonated anti-tank mine and a heavily bombed warehouse complex, where a sulphurous smell lingers and periodic explosions, possibly controlled detonations, can still be heard. Emergency crews have had to pause cleanup work at times due to further drone threats overhead.
Second incident of its kind
Thirty of the victims were residents of a care home near the depot. The site is now under criminal investigation by Ukraine's intelligence service. This is not an isolated case — a similar strike hit a depot in Vyshneve, nine miles away, in early July, killing nine people and damaging 280 homes. Two people were detained afterwards on suspicion of allowing weapons to be stored improperly.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy acknowledged on Saturday that a similar incident has happened again. Residents place blame both on Russian President Vladimir Putin and on those responsible for locating the depot near their homes.
