37 people are killed after a Russian strike on a warehouse in Kyiv causes an explosion.

As Moscow’s airstrikes on the Ukrainian capital and surrounding area continued for a third day in a row, authorities claimed on Saturday that at least 37 people had died after a Russian drone hit on a warehouse in the Kyiv area triggered an explosion.

The warehouse explosion late on Friday, which resulted in one of the greatest death tolls in months and seemed to be the second such incident in two months, prompted President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to vow to punish those guilty. According to Zelenskiy, the strike in the town of Myla resulted in dozens of injuries and the evacuation of around 370 people.

He said that “significant damage” was done to nearby infrastructure, which included residential structures and an elder care center. “Those who allowed this to happen must be held accountable for their decisions,” Zelenskiy wrote on X. “There are regulations in place – ammunition cannot be stored near homes or other residential areas. Appropriate conclusions will certainly be drawn.”

With additional ballistic missiles and jet-powered drones that are challenging to bring down, Russia has intensified its air campaign against Ukraine. Zelenskiy claimed that Russia had launched nocturnal operations against nine other regions, with high-speed drones attacking Kyiv in particular “virtually non-stop.”

For the third day in a row, sirens sounded throughout the morning on Saturday as Ukraine’s air force issued a warning about fresh drone waves that were getting closer to the city.

The sky was filled with the thunderous sound of air defences. A 14-year-old girl was murdered in a morning drone strike on the Boryspil neighbourhood, according to Kyiv region governor Tymur Tkachenko. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported on Saturday that a 2-year-old girl in Kyiv had been killed by a downed drone.

As part of what some Ukrainian officials described as a strategy to “paralyse” the city of several million people, strikes in and around Kyiv on Thursday and Friday destroyed homes and warehouses.

The explosion on Friday comes after a similar occurrence that occurred last month in the town of Vyshneve, near Kyiv, where a hit caused secondary explosions that resulted in 10 fatalities and hundreds of damaged homes.

“In the fifth year of war, we have no right to allow a repetition of tragedies like the one that occurred ⁠in Vyshneve, and this one in the Bucha district,” Prime Minister Sergiy Koretskyi, who visited the site of Friday’s blast, posted on Telegram. Zelenskiy stated that accusations of governmental carelessness had already led to the opening of criminal prosecutions. Rarely do Ukrainian officials report that Russian attacks have damaged military targets.