KYIV: Russia struck an arms depot near Kyiv overnight, sparking fires and explosions that killed 37 people and wounded dozens of others, authorities said Saturday.
AFP reporters saw plumes of black smoke over the capital’s western suburbs, while videos published by Ukraine’s rescue services showed firefighters battling a large blaze overnight.
The attack was the second to hit a munitions depot near Kyiv in less than two months, and prompted angry calls from Ukrainian officials to stop storing munitions near residential areas.
Both Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range strikes on each other in recent months, pushing civilian casualties to their highest level since Moscow invaded in 2022.
“Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions… ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on X.
The depot was owned by the Ukrainian military and stored drones, shells and other munitions, he said in a later video address.
At least 37 people were killed in the blast, among them the mayor of the nearby town of Dmytrivka, Kyiv region governor Tymur Tkachenko said on Telegram.
“Rescuers and all relevant services are continuing their operations at the scene of the tragedy,” Tkachenko said.
Hundreds have been forced to evacuate, he said earlier.
Ukrainian prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into criminal negligence.
“On 28 August at around 8:10 pm (1710 GMT), an unmanned aerial vehicle… fell on or struck the grounds of an enterprise in the town of Myla,” the office of Ukraine’s prosecutor general said.
Myla is a small town on the outskirts of western Kyiv.
“A large-scale fire broke out on the enterprise’s grounds, and detonation began,” prosecutors added.
The prosecutor’s office said that its investigation would focus on “the legality of the… storage of explosive objects and materials on the enterprise’s grounds”, as well as whether the owner, whom it did not name, had the “necessary permits and approvals”.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky expressed regret that a “lesson” had not been learned following a previous deadly strike on a munitions depot near Kyiv in July.
That investigation revealed serious failings on the part of a state-owned company, which did not comply with regulations regarding the proximity of residential buildings.
“In the fifth year of the full-scale invasion, making the same mistakes over and over is criminal negligence,” he said on Telegram. “Everyone responsible, without exception, must face severe punishment so that such situations never happen again.”
Russia launched at least two missiles and 267 drones at Ukraine between late Friday and early Saturday, according to the Ukrainian air force.
In addition to the depot strike, Russian attacks on Ukraine killed three people on Saturday, including a two-year-old infant in Kyiv and a 14-year-old girl in the capital’s outer suburbs, officials said.
In Russia, Ukrainian strikes killed three people in the Belgorod region and caused a fire at a warehouse belonging to Russian retailer Ozon, officials said.
A strike on the city of Sevastopol in Crimea killed one person, according to Sevastopol’s Russian-installed governor.
US-led diplomatic efforts to end the conflict, Europe’s deadliest since World War II, have been at a standstill for months.
Russia has demanded sweeping territorial and political concessions from Ukraine, which Kyiv has ruled out as tantamount to capitulation.
Earlier this week, US Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe visited Moscow on an unannounced trip, amid escalating tensions in the four-and-a-half-year war.
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