kyiv, Ukraine (AP) — The death toll from a Russian attack on a warehouse west of kyiv, the deadliest attack of the war this year, has risen to 38 and four people are still missing, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday. The Friday night attack on the warehouse, which Ukrainian officials said was storing ammunition, sparked massive explosions and fires that leveled dozens of nearby homes and buildings in the village of Myla. The attack came as Russia has dramatically stepped up its air campaign. recently in the war that has now been going on for four and a half years, with air raid sirens sounding repeatedly and explosions and the roar of air defenses echoing throughout kyiv all day long. Emergency workers continued to extinguish fires and identify and neutralize explosives at the scene, Zelenskyy said on social media. At least 52 people were wounded, 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 next to people.” He said an investigation was underway into why the ammunition was kept there. The escalation was a notable change 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 were relatively rare. Russia vows ‘massive attacks’ on Ukraine’s energy sector The Defense Ministry in Moscow said Sunday it is preparing “massive attacks” on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. He described the planned attacks in 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 attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector would be “an appropriate response” to what he called Ukraine’s “path of escalation” and its attacks on Russia’s civilian economy. Peskov told Russian state television that Moscow has been launching “fairly systematic” attacks on what he called kyiv’s military and war-related infrastructure. In the latest attack on Sunday, an Ozon logistics facility was attacked and set on fire by a Ukrainian drone in the Russian border region of Belgorod, and the company said it feared multiple injuries. Ukraine said it was attacking Wildberries, the country’s largest online retailer, similar to Amazon, because it sells dual-use products that have helped the military, although the company denies this. Ukrainian drones have also attacked oil refineries and other energy infrastructure, causing an unprecedented fuel crisis in one of the world’s largest energy producers. During the previous winters of the war, Russia systematically hit Ukraine’s power grid, depriving thousands of people of heat and light. Ukrainian officials have repeatedly warned that the coming winter may prove the most challenging since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022. New defense chief seeks to close $27 billion funding gap Ukraine’s new Defense Minister Yevhen Khmara said the ministry has options to close the $27 billion funding gap he inherited from his predecessor, including seeking more contributions from allies. Khmara made the remarks in his first briefing with journalists since taking office on Saturday. His appointment came after weeks of protests following the dismissal of Mykhailo Fedorov 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 published on Sunday. Khmara, a former special forces officer, takes over as kyiv’s war effort faces growing financial pressures. He said a priority will be to avoid shortages on the battlefield while ensuring soldiers are paid and other essential needs are met. Subscribe to Morning Wire: Our flagship newsletter breaks down the day’s biggest headlines. 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 funding specific defense needs, it said. “Ukraine will show its partners a clear vision and plan,” he promised, adding that he planned to preserve much of the existing ministerial team. kyiv sends hundreds of drones to Russia Also on Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down or neutralized nearly 500 Ukrainian drones launched overnight. Russian and Ukrainian reports on Telegram claimed that drone strikes set fire to a major oil refinery in Kirishi, southeast of St. Petersburg. The facility is one of the largest refineries in Russia and the only one in the northwest of the country. Local governor Alexander Drozdenko only reported that a fire broke out “in the Kirishi industrial zone” after the drone attacks. It said a total of 62 drones had been shot down in the surrounding region. Russian attacks in kyiv on Saturday killed a 2-year-old girl and injured 12 other people, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. In the eastern Ukrainian village of Bilbasovka, a 13-year-old boy and an adult were killed after Russian troops dropped bombs on private homes on Sunday, according to local official Vadim Lyakh. A Ukrainian attack on Sunday on a mine in Luhansk, in Russia-controlled eastern Ukraine, killed one employee, a Kremlin-installed local official said. According to regional head Leonid Pasechnik, another five people were injured throughout the province. In Russia, Ukrainian drone strikes injured at least four people in the border regions of Kursk and Belgorod, local authorities said.
