A drone strike on an ammunition facility in Myla triggered explosions and fires that spread into nearby buildings as authorities investigate weapons storage.
KYIV, UKRAINE — The death toll from a Russian strike on an ammunition warehouse west of Kyiv has risen to 38, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday, as emergency crews continued searching for four people who remained missing.
The Friday night attack hit a military ammunition facility in the village of Myla in the Bucha district, setting off powerful secondary explosions and fires. Ukrainian officials said the site contained artillery shells, mines, drones and other ammunition. The blast damaged nearby homes and other buildings and became the deadliest Russian attack in the Kyiv area so far this year.
Zelenskyy said emergency workers had extinguished most of the fires by Sunday but were still clearing wreckage and dealing with explosives and contamination at the site. He said 20 people were injured, including two children. The search for missing people continued as crews worked through the damaged area.
The president has also ordered an investigation into why ammunition was stored so close to homes and other occupied buildings. In an address Saturday, Zelenskyy called the situation a result of serious negligence and said regulations prohibit ammunition from being kept near residential areas. Criminal proceedings have been opened to determine who was responsible for the storage arrangement.
Among the buildings damaged in the explosions was a facility serving elderly people and people with disabilities, according to Ukrainian officials. Hundreds of residents were evacuated from the surrounding area after the strike as fires spread and ammunition continued to detonate. At least 50 residential buildings were reported damaged in the initial aftermath.
The attack also killed the head of a neighboring community after he went to the area to assist with the emergency response, officials said. Authorities have not released a complete list of those killed, and identification and recovery work remained underway Sunday.
The Myla explosion was the second deadly incident in the Kyiv region in two months in which a Russian strike triggered secondary blasts at an ammunition storage site. A similar attack in Vyshneve in July killed 10 people and damaged hundreds of homes. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has since ordered officials responsible for weapons storage to conduct a broader review of ammunition sites.
The strike came during an intensified Russian aerial campaign against Kyiv and surrounding areas. Air raid sirens sounded repeatedly through the weekend as Russian drones approached the capital and air defenses responded. Separate attacks in and around Kyiv also caused additional civilian deaths and injuries during the sustained barrage.
Russian forces have increasingly used large numbers of drones and missiles in attacks across Ukraine, placing pressure on the country’s air defenses. Zelenskyy said Russia launched nearly 2,000 strike drones, more than 1,600 aerial bombs and 31 missiles over the previous week. Russia has said its strikes are directed at Ukrainian military and war-related infrastructure.
Emergency operations in Myla remained active Sunday, with four people still unaccounted for. Ukrainian authorities said the investigation into the ammunition depot and its location near residential buildings would continue alongside recovery and cleanup work.
Author note: Last updated August 30, 2026.