"Only ashes and bones left": what we know about those killed in the Russian strike on Bucha ammunition depots
Thirty-eight people were killed when a Russian drone strike triggered the detonation of ammunition in the village of Myla, in the Bucha district near Kyiv. Among them were Valentyna, who lived at the Dobryi Dim care home for the elderly, and 52-year-old local resident Vitalii Momot.
Source: volunteer Kateryna "Arta" Yakymovych, Valentyna's daughter-in-law; Ukrainian public broadcaster hromadske; Valeriia Momot, Vitalii's daughter
Details: Kateryna said the family did not immediately realise that the tragedy had occurred at the place where Valentyna lived. They had been planning to go on holiday that morning, having booked apartments in Lviv and Yaremche.
"Yesterday we were walking on the left bank of the river and we saw this cloud, but we didn't know – and no one told us – that this hell was happening where our mum was," she wrote. "[...] We spent an hour and a half driving in a detour around the Zhytomyr [Kyiv-Chop] road, and it was only then that we found out it had all been happening in Myla. Then we got a phone call with the terrible news – 'the building has burned down', and mum had difficulty walking and couldn't have got out on her own. If someone had told us, or if we had at least known where it was happening, we would at least have had a chance to try to rescue our mum, but we were out on a peaceful walk."
Valentyna's son eventually reached the burned-out, windowless two-storey building that had been the Dobryi Dim care home for the elderly.
"My husband, a serviceman on leave, had to break through to the place where his mother had been and see a lump of ash and a couple of bones. That's all that remained of her, thanks to the scumbag in uniform who decided that an ammunition depot could be placed next to a residential area," Kateryna wrote.
The State Emergency Service initially said that at least 27 residents of the Dobryi Dim care home had been killed. Diana Butsko, a journalist at hromadske, reported that at least 31 bodies had been found at the care home. The other people who died were local residents, including two people who lived in a house opposite the care home.
One of them was Zhanna's husband. Hromadske journalists met Zhanna at the junction with Prorizna Street in Myla and spoke to her. Their house is among the worst affected: its light-coloured walls have turned black, the windows have been blown out, and the roof is completely gone.
On Friday evening, Zhanna was on her way home, where her husband was waiting for her.
"My husband went down to the basement. A man who happened to be driving past asked if he could take shelter there too, so they were there together," Zhanna said. "There was also a dog... A shell hit the car, and they suffocated from the smoke. Everything exploded so violently there that you still can't even go near it... I was supposed to be home at 20:00, but I was late. Otherwise I probably would have been here too."
Another local resident who lost his life was Vitalii Momot, 52. He was at home with his dog and chinchilla.
"Today the Russians killed my dad and our pets and destroyed our home," his daughter Valeriia Momot wrote. "I still can't believe it, but the photos and videos of the devastation bring home the bitter realisation that this is reality.
I want my dad, Funia and Adelka to remain in my memory as they are in these photos. And I want to rebuild our home, because that's what my dad would have wanted."
Amina Aliieva, who works in marketing, also paid tribute to Vitalii on Instagram. He was a friend of her family and the father of one of her friends.
"He was an extraordinary person, smart and funny. He took us to theatre school, went on trips with us, and supported me and my loved ones through the hardest times. I'm so grateful that I knew you," she wrote.
The detonation of ammunition in Myla also killed Taras Didych, Head of the Dmytrivka hromada A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories . He was among the first to arrive at the scene of the attack to help people.
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