Death toll rises to 38 from Russia's deadliest attack on Ukraine this year
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian strike on a warehouse west of Kyiv, the war's deadliest attack this year, rose to 38 with four people still missing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday.
The Friday night strike on the warehouse, which Ukrainian officials said was storing ammunition, sparked massive explosions and fires that swept through dozens of nearby homes and buildings in the village of Myla.
The attack came as Russia has sharply intensified its air campaign recently in the 4 1/2-year-old war, with air raid sirens wailing repeatedly and explosions and the rumble of air defenses resounding across Kyiv throughout the day.
Emergency workers continued to extinguish fires and identify and neutralize explosives at the site, Zelenskyy said on social media. At least 52 people were injured, said Tymur Tkachenko, who heads the local regional military administration.
On Saturday, Zelenskyy called the Myla attack “a terrible situation” and a consequence of “terrible negligence on the part of those who stored explosives right next to people.” He said an investigation was underway into why the ammunition came to be kept there.
The escalation was a notable shift in tactics, putting more pressure on Ukraine’s already strained air defenses while keeping civilians on alert for hours. Previously, daytime attacks on the capital had been relatively rare.
The Defense Ministry in Moscow said Sunday it is preparing "massive strikes” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. It described the planned strikes as retaliation for Kyiv's drone campaign against Russian online retailers Wildberries and Ozon, as well as the country's oil and gas sector.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said large-scale strikes against Ukraine's energy sector would be “an appropriate response” to what he called Ukraine’s “path of escalation” and targeting of Russia’s civilian economy.
Peskov told Russian state TV that Moscow has been launching “fairly systematic” strikes on what he called Kyiv's military and war-related infrastructure.
In the latest attack Sunday, an Ozon logistics facility was struck and set ablaze by a Ukrainian drone in the Belgorod border region of Russia, with the company saying it feared that there were multiple injuries.
Ukraine said it was attacking Wildberries — the country's largest online retailer, similar to Amazon — because it sells dual-use goods that have aided the military, although the company denies that. Ukrainian drones also have struck oil refineries and other energy infrastructure, prompting an unprecedented fuel crisis in one of the world’s biggest energy producers.
During the war’s previous winters, Russia systematically battered Ukraine’s power grid, depriving thousands of heat and light. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that the coming winter may prove to be the most challenging since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara said the ministry has options for closing the $27 billion funding gap he inherited from his predecessor, including seeking more contributions from allies.
Khmara made the remarks at his first briefing with reporters since taking the post Saturday. His appointment followed weeks of protests after Mykhailo Fedorov's dismissal that sparked a military reset in Kyiv and culminated in a video in which Fedorov called for a new presidential election. Khmara's comments were released for publication on Sunday.
Khmara, a former special forces officer, takes over as Kyiv's war effort faces mounting financial pressures. He said a priority will be avoiding battlefield shortages while ensuring soldiers are paid and other essential needs are met.
The ministry is considering bringing forward part of a 90 billion euro ($104 billion) European loan planned for next year, and has identified partners for separate talks on financing specific defense needs, he said.
“Ukraine will show its partners a clear vision and a clear plan,” he vowed, adding he planned to preserve much of the existing ministry team.
Also on Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces downed or neutralized almost 500 Ukrainian drones launched overnight.
Russian and Ukrainian reports on Telegram claimed the drone strikes set fire to a major oil refinery in Kirishi, southeast of St. Petersburg. The facility is one of Russia’s largest refineries and the only one in the country’s northwest.
Local Gov. Alexander Drozdenko reported only that a fire broke out “in Kirishi’s industrial zone” following the drone strikes. He said a total of 62 drones had been shot down over the surrounding region.
Russian strikes on Kyiv on Saturday killed a 2-year-old girl and injured 12 others, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. In the village of Bilbasovka in eastern Ukraine, a 13-year-old and an adult died after Russian troops dropped bombs on private houses Sunday, according to local official Vadim Lyakh.
A Ukrainian strike Sunday on a mine in Luhansk in Russian-held eastern Ukraine killed an employee, a Kremlin-installed local official said. According to regional head Leonid Pasechnik, five others were injured across the province.
In Russia, Ukrainian drone strikes injured at least four people in the border regions of Kursk and Belgorod, local authorities said.
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