"""

Explosion near Kyiv raises death toll

The attack on the weapons depot near Kyiv turned into a major blast late Friday near the village of Myla in the Bucha district west of the capital. According to Ukrainian officials, shells, mines and drones stored at the site detonated after a Russian drone attack; 37 people were killed, 42 were injured and about 400 people were evacuated.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the explosions at the depot, which was located very close to a residential area, caused severe damage to surrounding buildings. Among the damaged structures was a care home for the elderly and people with disabilities. Regional administrator Tymur Tkachenko said four children were among the wounded and that search and rescue operations continued on Saturday.

Russia says it targeted the site

Russia's Defense Ministry said it had targeted an ammunition depot in Myla, west of Kyiv. The ministry claimed the depot contained parts and launch boosters for FP-1 and FP-2 long-range unmanned aerial vehicles.

Probe launched into where the munitions were stored

Zelensky described the storage of munitions in an area inside the village as “absolutely should not have been there.” Ukrainian authorities said they had opened an investigation on suspicion of official negligence because the explosives were stored so close to a residential area.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office is also examining the legal basis for keeping explosives and ammunition next to homes in Myla. The investigation was said to include the responsibility of the officials who made the relevant decisions.

Similar incident had occurred earlier

This attack was the second ammunition depot in the Kyiv area to be hit in recent months. Zelensky recalled a blast at a depot in Vyshneve in July that killed nine people and injured dozens, saying similar mistakes were being repeated.

  • About 130 homes were damaged in the village of Myla.
  • The number of evacuees was reported at around 400.
  • Among the injured were four children.

Attacks also continued in other parts of Ukraine

Officials said fresh attacks were reported around Kyiv and in other parts of the country during the same period. Tkachenko said a separate attack in the Boryspil district killed a 14-year-old child, while Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said a 2-year-old child was killed when a Russian drone fell in Obolonskyi.

Klitschko said five people were injured in new attacks on the capital on Saturday morning. Zelensky also said overnight strikes hit Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, and that the Ukrainian military shot down 233 Russian drones.

Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky also described the Myla incident as “criminal negligence,” saying the same mistakes were being repeated in the fifth year of the full-scale war. The debate in Ukraine has centered on why ammunition depots were kept so close to civilian areas while Russian air attacks continue.

"""