At least 27 people have died after a Russian drone struck a warehouse near Kyiv’s western suburbs overnight, sparking a huge fire and explosions, authorities said Saturday.
The warehouse appeared to have been storing “explosive objects,” Ukrainian prosecutors said, opening an investigation into criminal negligence.
Officials did not give details about the nature of the facility.
Both Russia and Ukraine have intensified long-range strikes on each other in recent months, sparking fires and sending civilian casualties to record levels.
AFP reporters saw a huge column of black smoke pouring over the capital’s western suburbs, as officials reported the facility was still on fire.
“Unfortunately, as things stand, 27 people are known to have died. And this figure may not be final,” Kyiv region governor Tymur Tkachenko said.
Among the dead was Taras Didych, mayor of the village of Dmytrivska, he added.
Ukrainian prosecutors announced an investigation.
“On 28 August at around 8:10pm (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 town on Kyiv’s western outskirts.
“A large-scale fire broke out on the enterprise’s grounds, and detonation began,” it added.
The prosecutor’s office specified 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 company, which was not named, had the “necessary permits and approvals.’
Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky expressed regret that a “lesson” had not been learned after a previous deadly attack in July in Vyshneve, near Kyiv, on a munitions depot.
That investigation revealed serious failings on the part of the state-owned company, which did not comply with standards despite 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.”
