A Russian strike on the Bucha district near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has killed at least 27 people, local officials said Saturday, marking another deadly attack on a region already scarred by the war.
Tymur Tkachenko, who heads the regional military administration, said the assault damaged at least 50 residential buildings and ignited a major blaze that swept through nearby homes and a restaurant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement that a warehouse in the village of Myla had been hit, triggering a subsequent detonation.
Zelensky did not provide further details about the facility, but said in the same statement that criminal proceedings had been launched over alleged official negligence.
“There are regulations in place — ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas,” Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian president added that the blast and fire damaged residential buildings as well as a care facility for older people and people with disabilities.
“More than 370 people have already been evacuated, and the evacuation is ongoing,” he said.
The Bucha district attack comes as Kyiv endures near-continuous air raid alerts for a third straight day, straining the Ukrainian capital’s economy and upending daily life more than four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.