RUSSIAN STRIKE ON KYIV SUBURB KILLS 27, DESTROYS HOMES

At least 27 people have been killed following a Russian attack on the Bucha district near Kyiv, according to Ukrainian officials. Tymur Tkachenko, head of the local regional military administration, said that at least 50 residential buildings were damaged in the strike, which triggered a large-scale fire. A further 42 people, including four children, were injured, Tkachenko added. More than 370 people were evacuated from the area, with evacuation operations ongoing.

The strike targeted a warehouse in the village of Myla, though accounts of its contents differ. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a warehouse was struck "followed by a detonation" and noted that a care home for elderly people and those with disabilities sustained damage. Russia's Ministry of Defence said its forces had hit an ammunition depot storing "components and launch boosters for long-range unmanned aerial vehicles". Zelenskyy announced that criminal proceedings had been opened on charges of official negligence, stating that regulations prohibit ammunition storage near residential areas. Ukrainian Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi referenced a similar incident earlier in the month at Vyshneve, which killed 22 people, and characterised the repeat incident as "criminal negligence".

An investigation into whether ammunition was being stored at the site has been launched. Search and rescue operations were ongoing on Saturday morning, with more than 300 emergency respondents deployed. Separately, a 14-year-old was killed in a Russian strike in the Boryspil district. Zelenskyy reported overnight strikes across several regions, including Odesa, Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy and Zaporizhzhia, and stated that Ukrainian forces shot down 233 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles overnight into Saturday.