Zelensky says Ukraine defense firm illegally stored weapons near civilians

Volodymyr Zelensky said top officials at Ukroboronprom broke the law by allowing weapons depots in Vyshneve, where a July 6 Russian strike set off massive secondary explosions at a warehouse belonging to Ukraine’s state-owned defense conglomerate.

The president said the storage site was in a place that was "expressly prohibited" and too close to civilian targets. He had already called the blast an "absolutely terrible situation" on July 9, when he said a criminal investigation had been opened and dismissals at Ukroboronprom would follow.

The public rebuke put a rare spotlight on oversight inside Ukraine’s defense sector at a moment when Russian attacks have pushed military logistics deeper into civilian areas. Ukrinform said authorities had identified the officials at Ukroboronprom responsible for allowing the depots to be located in Vyshneve, a Kyiv suburb on the city’s western outskirts.

Ukraine’s General Staff said the site of the secondary detonation did not belong to the Armed Forces of Ukraine or fall under their authority, underscoring the gap between military command structures and the state-owned company that owned the warehouse. Ukroboronprom is Ukraine’s largest weapons manufacturer and a central part of the wartime defense industry.

The explosion forced the evacuation of more than 600 people from Vyshneve because of the risk of repeated detonations. Local reporting said the fire took days to extinguish, and dozens of houses on five streets were destroyed while 13 hectares of residential area were damaged.

Kyiv Oblast authorities said nine people were killed and 58 injured in the broader July 6 attack on the Kyiv region. One local report put the toll in Vyshneve alone at seven dead and 29 injured. Reuters reported that the strike hit the warehouse and triggered massive secondary explosions, turning the depot into one of the most visible symbols of the danger posed when military stockpiles sit too close to homes.

The case now sits inside a criminal probe, with dismissals expected at Ukroboronprom. Zelensky’s decision to publicly identify the violation suggests a push for accountability inside a sector under extreme wartime pressure, but it also exposes how far civilian safety, chain of command and defense logistics remain under strain as Russia keeps striking Kyiv and its outskirts.