At least 27 people were killed after a Russian attack on the Bucha district near Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, officials said on Saturday.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of the local regional military administration, said the attack damaged at least 50 residential buildings and triggered a large-scale fire that spread to houses and a restaurant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement that a warehouse in the village of Myla was hit, “followed by a detonation.”
While Zelenskyy did not provide further details about the site, he said in the same statement that criminal proceedings had been initiated over allegations of official negligence.
“There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said that a care facility for elderly people and individuals with disabilities, along with residential buildings, was damaged in the attack.
“More than 370 people have already been evacuated, and the evacuation is ongoing,” he said.
Near-continuous air raids over Kyiv have entered their third consecutive day, putting a strain on the Ukrainian capital’s economy and causing major disruptions to civilian life, more than four and a half years after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
