A Russian jet-powered drone struck an ammunition dump in Myla, 15 miles outside Kyiv, after Thursday night’s bombing, and the death toll rose to 38 on Sunday. The blast site sits at the center of the Kyiv Rail Workers Strike coverage because residents say the depot was too close to homes, gardens, and utility lines.
Volodymyr, a security guard, said his family’s home had its roof blown off and back windows shattered. “I’ve been coming back and forth for two days to see these ashes,” he said, as the clear-up work was halted at lunchtime because of another drone threat above.
Myla deaths and missing people
Thirty of the dead were from a care home close to the ammunition store, and four people were still missing after the bombing. Witnesses said the initial strike came at 8pm on Thursday night, then the site burned for about six hours, with people hearing 30 or 50 explosions as the ammunition cooked off.
Serhii said the blast left a missile shell from a Grad rocket launcher on his property after the explosions subsided, along with several mines and cluster munitions. “I thought it was humanitarian aid that was stored there,” he said, describing what he believed was at the site.
Ukraine’s intelligence service inquiry
Ukraine’s intelligence service has opened a criminal inquiry into the location of the ammunition store. That step focuses attention on who chose the site and why it was placed in a village setting where residents say they did not know ammunition was being kept nearby.
Vira, another local resident, put the blame on the people who set up the depot in Myla. “Those who set up the depot here are to blame. There are people here, this is a village. You can’t keep something like that here,” she said in the yard before the garden.
The damaged homes in Myla now sit beside scattered ash, unexploded ordnance, and broken services, while residents wait for the cleanup to restart under safer conditions. The next step is the criminal inquiry into the depot’s location, which is now the main question left by the strike.
