Ukrainian prosecutors reported that an unmanned aerial vehicle struck the enterprise around 8:10 pm, igniting a large-scale blaze and secondary detonations from what appeared to be stored explosive objects.

The powerful blasts damaged surrounding residential areas and an elder-care facility, forcing hundreds of residents to evacuate as a thick column of black smoke billowed over the capital's western suburbs.

Questions over safety protocols

The tragedy sparked immediate internal condemnation over safety protocols, echoing a deadly July strike on a munitions depot near Kyiv that also exposed regulatory failures.

President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Sergiy Koretsky both decried the placement of explosive materials near residential zones. Koretsky described the repeated security lapses during the fifth year of the full-scale invasion as "criminal negligence."

Prosecutors launched a formal criminal investigation to examine the legality and permits surrounding the storage of explosive materials on the enterprise's grounds.

Wider Russian barrage

The strike on Myla was part of a broader, intense barrage that saw Russia launch at least two missiles and 267 drones across Ukraine, pushing civilian casualties to some of the highest levels of the conflict.

Additional Russian attacks on Saturday killed three more people in Ukraine, including a two-year-old infant in Kyiv and a 14-year-old girl in the outer suburbs.

Retaliatory strikes

Meanwhile, retaliatory Ukrainian strikes killed three people in Russia's Belgorod region, igniting a fire at an Ozon retailer warehouse, and one person in Sevastopol, Crimea.

Diplomatic efforts to end Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II remain deadlocked.