A Russian drone struck a warehouse in the Bucha district near Kyiv on Friday, triggering a detonation that killed at least 37 people and set off a large fire across the Ukrainian capital’s western suburbs. The warehouse appeared to have been storing explosive objects, which caused secondary blasts after the initial strike.
Regional governor Tymur Tkachenko said a further 42 people, including four children, were injured. Casualty figures reported across sources ranged from 27 to 37 killed as rescue teams continued searching the site through the day.
The blast damaged at least 50 residential buildings, among them a care home for elderly and disabled residents. Emergency crews worked to contain the fire as explosions continued at the warehouse compound.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the warehouse was struck and “followed by a detonation,” describing the scene of major fires and repeated explosions. He did not provide a final death toll while operations were ongoing.
The strike is among the deadliest single attacks on the Kyiv region in recent weeks. It follows a pattern of drone and missile assaults on the capital and surrounding areas that have killed dozens of civilians this summer, including an earlier barrage that killed at least 17 in the same region.
Ukraine has increasingly relied on layered air defences to intercept incoming drones, though warehouse and industrial sites in populated districts remain exposed. The Bucha district, on Kyiv’s western edge, was the scene of heavy fighting and civilian killings in the early months of the war in 2022.
Rescue operations at the site remained active, with authorities warning that the death toll could rise as debris was cleared from the collapsed and burning structures.