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‘Everything’s smashed to bits’: Ukrainians turn anger on those storing weapons near their villages

It is a day and a half since a Russian jet-powered drone smashed into an ammunition dump in Myla, a village 15 miles outside central Kyiv. Volodymyr, 61, a security guard, leads visitors from his family’s badly damaged home, its roof blown off, back windows shattered, through the garden towards the impact site 300 metres away. The garden, like so many in Ukraine’s villages and suburbs, is a sizeable allotment. But today the greenhouse is shattered, a vegetable patch is blackened and crisp underfoot. Several metres of grapevine have been destroyed. Even so, Volodymyr finds two surviving bunches to hand to the Guardian. It is a remarkable moment of generosity, though his family now has no electricity and no water after Thursday night’s extended bombing. The death toll rose by one on Sunday, to 38, and four more people are still missing in an episode that has swiftly raised questions about why ammunition was stored so close to people’s homes. In the yard before the garden, Vira, 65, knows who is at fault. “Those who set up the depot here are to blame. There are people here, this is a village. You can’t keep something like that here,” she says. She and her son Serhii hid for hours in a small bunker by the side of the house waiting out what witnesses said were 30 or 50 explosions that went on for about six hours after the initial strike at 8pm. Serhii says they had no idea ammunition was stored in their village. “I thought it was humanitarian aid that was stored there.” Now the family is presented with a cleanup that will be costly and difficult while starting with next to nothing. He is charging his phone from a car battery via a converter. It is all the power they have. A missile shell from a Grad rocket launcher was found on their property once the explosions subsided, Serhii adds, as well as “several mines and cluster munitions”. They have been removed by the cleanup team, although a burnt-out box of bullets, freshly discovered in another part of the semi-collapsed ceiling, has not and sits by the front door awaiting a further collection. Volodymyr’s tour continues out back. A grass line, effectively a track, has been marked out through the wood beyond the garden, between blackened patches where fires burned. There is smouldering, even flames in places, more bullets and boxes of bullets, then, on the right, unmistakably, a detonated anti-tank mine. Finally, the woods open out, revealing a warehouse site, large parts of which are bombed out, an open area of destruction. A sulphurous smell endures, and periodically explosions can be heard, though they may be controlled detonations. Clear-up work by the emergency services is in the process of being halted at lunchtime because there is another drone threat above. Volodymyr was on guard duty at a lumber yard close to the ammunition store on the night of the bombing. He survived the initial strike unscathed, and headed back home promptly, but feels a guard’s need to return. “I’ve been coming back and forth for two days to see these ashes,” he says. Thirty of the dead were from a care home close to the ammunition store, the location of which is now subject of a criminal inquiry by Ukraine’s intelligence service. But it is not the first attack of its kind in recent weeks. There have been other Russian bombings of poorly placed ammunition dumps, as Moscow aggressively targets warehouse sites at a time when Ukraine is doing similar. The fact this has happened recently in Ukraine is not lost on Liudmyla, whose adult daughter was in the house a couple of doors down when the Shahed drone hit. The home is also heavily damaged, windows facing the warehouse blown in, and Liudmyla recalls that a similar incident happened in early July, on the edge of Kyiv. “Look at what’s going on here. Everything’s smashed to bits right here. Vyshneve [the scene of the previous incident, nine miles south-east] wasn’t enough for them, and there was more somewhere else too. No, they’ve dumped all this right by people’s vegetable gardens, right on their doorsteps,” she says, warning that munitions are still strewn around, not yet cleared up. Nine people were killed after a munitions store was hit at Vyshneve, and 280 homes damaged. Two people have been detained on suspicion of allowing weapons to be stored in an inappropriate place after the episode, but as the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Saturday, similar has happened again. It is a dismal repetition at a time when Kyiv is already coming under increased attack from Moscow, the harm to civilians from attacks on food stores and logistics warehouses increasing. When Liudmyla is pressed to say who is at fault for the deaths and destruction at Myla, she offers a double answer. “Putin! Who else? And those who set up the depot here.”

Ukraine war briefing: Russia planning ‘massive strikes’ on power plants days after its deadliest attack of the year

Russia’s defence ministry says it is gearing up for large-scale attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a tit-for-tat response to strikes by Kyiv. “Russian forces have begun preparations for massive strikes against facilities in Ukraine’s energy sector in response to the ongoing attacks by the Kyiv regime on civilian infrastructure and on Russia’s oil and energy complex,” it said on Telegram on Sunday. Last winter, Moscow repeatedly hit Ukrainian power plants, devastating the country’s energy sector and plunging millions of people into cold and darkness in sub-zero temperatures. In comes as the death toll from a Russian strike on a warehouse west of Kyiv rose to 38, with four people still missing, making it the deadliest attack of the year, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Sunday. The Friday night strike on the warehouse, which Ukrainian officials said was storing ammunition, sparked massive explosions and fires that swept through dozens of nearby homes and buildings in the village of Myla. Russian strikes on Kyiv on Saturday killed a 2-year-old girl and injured 12 others, the capital’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said. In the village of Bilbasovka in eastern Ukraine, a 13-year-old and an adult died after Russian troops dropped bombs on private houses on Sunday, according to local official Vadim Lyakh. Meanwhile, a ⁠missile attack killed two ⁠people and ⁠injured another 16 in the Russian ⁠city of Belgorod, close ⁠to the border ‌with ‌Ukraine, on ‌Sunday evening, the acting governor, Alexander Shuvayev, said on ‌Telegram. He said two people were killed after Ukraine hit ⁠a commercial facility, with the attack also causing fires ‌in seven warehouses in the city. Another ⁠person ⁠was killed ⁠in a Ukrainian attack ‌on ‌a mine ‌in the Russian-controlled ‌part of the Luhansk region ⁠in eastern Ukraine, the region’s Russian-installed governor, ‌Leonid Pasechnik, said. Ukraine wants ⁠to bring forward part of ⁠a European ⁠Union loan earmarked for next year ⁠to help cover a $27bn budget ⁠deficit this year, said its defence ‌minister, Yevhenii Khmara. In comments to ‌reporters released on Sunday, he added that Kyiv’s war plan must be ‌clear to Ukraine’s partners, as well as across the military chain of command. Khmara also said ⁠Ukraine has tested four potential interceptors to shoot down the jet-powered ‌drones Russia is increasingly firing at Ukraine. Swarms of the high-speed drones have plagued the capital Kyiv for four consecutive days, killing residents, damaging homes and warehouses and upending daily life. Ukraine ⁠is preparing for further talks ⁠with ⁠representatives of the US president, Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said on ⁠Sunday. “There will be ‌more details ‌tomorrow. We ‌will do everything we can so that war does not remain ‌the only option for how events unfold further. It is important that ⁠America shares many of our views on the situation,” he ‌said in a televised statement. A Nato official said on Sunday Russia is stepping up hybrid ⁠acts in Europe, but that at this time the alliance sees no imminent threat ⁠of attack. “Even as ⁠the Russians are facing very substantial resistance from Ukraine, they are stepping up attacks on Ukraine ⁠as well as hybrid acts in Europe,” the official said. “As always, Nato remains vigilant and alert to ⁠the variety of threats we face. At this time, we see no imminent threat ‌of attack,” the official ‌said, adding: “We continue to stand with Ukraine. And Nato continues ‌to work around the clock to keep our one billion people safe.”

‘The house got carried 100 metres away’: some Nepal flood victims had minutes of notice. Others had seconds

The first thing is the noise – chopper blades cutting through the air as helicopters come and go from the main army response centre, at the entrance to Nepal’s flood zone. Then, there is the smell. A putrid, iodine smell. Blood and bone. The severe heat beating down on bodies packed into white bags – being carried off helicopters and laid in an area so families can identify them. On Sunday the combined toll in Nepal and Tibet climbed to 781 dead and more than 3,000 people missing. Forty-three of them are Australians. The humanitarian crisis on the ground is huge – but aid, a large amount of it from Australia, has started to arrive. An additional $3m, on top of $5m already announced, was confirmed on Monday morning. The army barracks have become the heartbeat of the crisis – bringing survivors in, taking supplies out and trying to place the dead with their families, so they can be laid properly to rest. “With every helicopter there are mixed feelings,” says Plan International’s Unni Krishnan, who is on the ground in the Nuwkot district to oversee the response. “It’s a scene of hope and despair – there are families here who have been waiting for three days to hear about their loved ones … Some of them will arrive and some of them will not.” Outside the army barracks, the single road entering Nepal’s flood zone was busy on Sunday. While family members gather outside the gates, waiting for news, huge parcels of supplies are making their way up the valley. The response is still in crisis mode – focused on clean water, enough food and shelter. “We’re seeing the true nature of the floods,” Krishnan says. “It’s reconfigured landscapes and lives. “Homes are destroyed. We can see spaces, doorways, where barely a cat or a dog could get through now, where people used to walk through. It’s all gone.” ‘It was seconds’ Plan International are part of the massive coalition of Australian charities operating under the Emergency Action Alliance to deliver urgent relief. On Sunday evening, the Australian government tipped another $1m into the hat, bringing the total amount, including public donations, to $3.8m. Getting the basics in is hard. Huge trucks have dropped supplies off at the beginning of the flood zone, where they are kept in makeshift storerooms. The next day it can be picked up by smaller 4WDs and taken up the valley. The government is tightly controlling what goes where. After the 2015 earthquake, where the response was rapid but disorganised, communities were forced to bury non-essential items, so international charities are not allowed to distribute things themselves. When aid reaches an area, it’s registered with an official, who then distributes it. Workers have been able to reach the worst-hit district, Rasuwa, but have not been able to get as far as the border checkpoint, where many of the missing Australians were last heard from. One aid worker in Bidur, who was not cleared to speak to the media, says his colleagues who had managed to get up the valley had estimated that as many as 70% of the people living there were lost. “Because down here they had warning, maybe 10-15 minutes,” he says. “But up there it was seconds. So there will be bodies trapped in the mud, that will be difficult to identify and difficult to rescue. And the smell, the smell.” Another worker says the people who survived the floods have moved up on to the hills – staying in makeshift relief centres or with relatives. Many of the villages have been cut off completely. In Bidur, hundreds of people are stuck on the wrong side of the river after the bridge was washed away. There is a market but, once they eat through the supplies left, the only option will be aid drops by helicopter. On Sunday night, hundreds of people gathered across Australia to hold candlelight vigils for Nepal. The connection between the two countries runs deep – there are 200,000 Nepalese diaspora living in Australia. ‘Namaste’ Here, on the other side of the world, the connection cuts through the tragedy. Bhagat Lal, 68, is sitting outside his house just 100 metres away from the river. He hears an Australian accent and launches into a greeting: “Namaste,” he says. One of his sons is studying in Brisbane. Although they have family missing, his son will stay in Australia until they have more information. Through a translator, Lal explains how his relatives, two mothers and two children, are missing. Their whole house was found washed up on the bank of the river, 100 metres from where they lived. “From the ground level, the river was flowing nine, 10 metres high,” Lal says. “It shook the house … the house got carried 100 metres away.” After the aid trucks are emptied, the Plan International team head up the hill to the relief centre, where they are dropping off a water tank. The centre has become home for 92 displaced Nepalese; 53 of them are children. A worker from the centre points to one young boy – both his parents are gone. The girl next to him: no one knows where her mother is, but her father is here. Many of them are from the Rasuwa district. Some were found by the Nepalese army; others walked. One group of children, some dressed in their school uniforms, walked for more than six hours to get to Bidur. They sleep on the floor in large shared rooms, or on makeshift hospital beds that have been brought in. Lunch is served – noodles and veggies. Some of the kids are given haircuts. Their days are spent sitting in the shade or running around with the dogs. Others wrap themselves fully in blankets, lying inside, their heads covered from the world. ‘Everything is gone’ Sulochana Tamang, 30, is staying at the centre. She was rescued from the side of a mountain, her two children aged seven and two, in her arms. “My town is on the border of Rasuwa and Nuwakot districts,” she says through a translator. “When the flood came, me and my husband grabbed our children in our arms, and we just ran. We fled up the mountain.” After two days, they were found by the army, who helicoptered them to the barracks. The family of four survived, but they have lost relatives. Tamang stares out over the mountains. “There are around 80 households in my village. Everything is gone. There is nothing remaining.” Like the others, Tamang will live at the centre, possibly for months. There is nowhere else to go. Plan are going to bring in learning materials, so the children don’t miss too much of their schooling. They will make sure the food is nutritious and see if they can get Clowns Without Borders over to bring in some joy. “The scale of the distraction is clearer today,” Krishnan says. “But we are also seeing increasingly how people in Nepal are united and people in the rest of the world are with them. “The contributions of the Australian public have been a huge boost, because the relief workers are reminded they’re not alone in that crisis.”

Captain and crew arrested after at least eight die in northern Cyprus ferry disaster – as it happened

Ünal Üstel, the north’s Turkish Cypriot prime minister, has announced an inquiry has been launched into the marine disaster which he described as “the worst in Cypriot history”. “Every angle of this incident will be investigated,” he told local media. “Even the smallest negligence will be uncovered. There will be no leniency for anyone thought to bear responsibility.”

Nepal-Tibet disaster: death toll exceeds 800 amid warnings of new flash floods – as it happened

We’re pausing our live coverage of the disaster. Here are the key developments from the last few hours: The death toll in Nepal has risen to 788, taking the overall toll to 804. Chinese state media earlier confirmed 16 dead in Tibet and 546 people missing following Wednesday’s disaster. There are 3,048 people unaccounted for. Nepal’s Chitwan district has become the site of mass burials for hundreds of unidentified victims whose bodies were swept away by the devastating flash floods. Authorities have dug ⁠hundreds of graves in the district’s Devghat forest, which is serving as a temporary burial ground for bodies too badly decomposed to be identified. Morgues across Nepal are already overflowing. Authorities have been overwhelmed trying to identify the dead, with many bodies beyond recognition and turning up miles downstream. About 85 Americans remain missing, the state department said on Sunday. State department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told ABC News that nine Americans have been evacuated and that he was unaware of any US nationals dying in the disaster. China said 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries were missing on the Tibetan side of a ⁠border crossing with Nepal: the ⁠highest number was from Nepal at 104, while 49 Indian, 33 Latvian, 18 American and 15 British citizens were also unaccounted for. Senator Penny Wong, Australian minister for foreign affairs, said Australia is deploying a further $3m in humanitarian assistance to flood-afflicted areas along the Nepal-China border. Wong highlighted that 42 Australians remain unaccounted for. Authorities have issued high-alert fresh water surge and flash flood warnings for the Trishuli Bazaar area in Nepal’s Nuwakot district following severe upstream glacial collapses and debris flows. In a breakthrough late on Saturday, the Nepali army was able to insert a pipe into a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site where more than 100 workers may still be alive and trapped inside such tunnels, with rescue efforts still ongoing.

Nepal-Tibet deaths from flash flooding rise amid race to free workers in tunnel

Rescuers in Nepal and Tibet have battled through leg-sucking mud amid the threat of fresh flooding to search for thousands of people still missing after a deadly wall of water swept through the Himalayan border zone, engulfing entire villages. The latest updates on Sunday put the number of missing at 3,048, including hundreds of foreigners. There was a total of 804 confirmed deaths across Nepal and Tibet, and reports of some bodies swept downstream possibly as far as India. Nepal said it had begun the task of burying some of the hundreds of bodies after first taking DNA samples so that families could later reclaim them after identification and perform traditional funeral rites. The disaster, which struck the border on Wednesday morning, was caused by a glacial collapse which sent a wall of water and debris downstream, the US Geological Survey said. Nepal’s foreign minister called for a global response to the climate crisis, saying the small, poor Himalayan nation was bearing a disproportionate share of its impact. “Despite having only 0.1% contribution to global emissions, people of Nepal have become major victims of climate change,” Shisir Khanal said on Saturday. More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far. Nepal said on Sunday that 2,502 people, including 592 foreigners, were out of contact in the country. It reported an updated death toll of 788 people. Chinese authorities on Sunday reported 16 deaths and 546 missing, of whom 261 were foreign nationals, including 104 from Nepal, 49 from India, 33 from Latvia, 18 from the US and 15 British citizens. In a breakthrough at the weekend, Nepal’s army was able to insert a pipe into a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydroelectric site, where more than 100 workers are believed to be trapped. The home minister, Sudan Gurung, said: “We have already started sending air through the small opening, and we will now begin excavation work and send the rescue team inside.” It is a race to reach the workers, who may still be alive inside the tunnels, with rescue efforts focused on the Trishuli 3A and 3B sites. They are among 933 hydropower workers who are among the missing, according to Nepal’s disaster authority. Nepal warned on Sunday of rising flood waters and urged rescue teams to exercise caution. “We have received information that the flood flow in the Bhotekoshi river in Rasuwa has increased further,” the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority said. Flood warnings were sent to people’s phones early on Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas hit by the floods. In Dhading, one of the worst-hit regions in Nepal, some people began returning to ruined homes to see what could be salvaged. Residents of the flood-hit villages said they were struggling to make sense of near-constant alarms they had received since the initial floods. One resident, Govind Shreshta, told the Associated Press: “Sometimes they say a flood is coming, then we have to run again to higher ground, even at night. There is also rain. It’s really difficult for me. I have a 72-year-old father and 70-year-old mum. I must carry them and I am exhausted. It’s going on like this for those who are still alive.” The government estimated Nepal’s reconstruction bill could run to billions of dollars. Officials in Nepal called for forensic testing kits to identify bodies and freezer units to store them in, saying bodies that had been in water could decompose at a faster rate. Survivors face an agonising wait to learn the fate of missing relatives and the prospect of rebuilding their lives from nothing. “All the settlements near the river were swept away,” Buddhi Ram Dangol told Agence France-Presse in Nepal’s Nuwakot district. “There is nothing left.” In Tibet, where Chinese authorities are the only source of information, rescue operations were paused at the hardest-hit area of Gyirong over the risk of more flooding from a newly formed lake. A total of 2,141 rescuers were near the Gyirong site, the Xinhua state news agency reported, including more than 500 in the worst-hit area. In Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, relatives and friends gathered outside the main government hospital from early morning, desperately searching for news of missing loved ones. Many shuffled between the help desk and the hospital noticeboard, clutching photographs and scanning lists of patients in the hope of finding them. Dil Maya Lama stood weeping near the help desk at the hospital, searching for information about her 26-year-old brother, a driver for a hydropower company in Rasuwa. She had travelled from Ramechhap, about 80 miles (130km) away. “I came here with the hope that I might find him,” she told the Associated Press. “There is no information about him.” Nelza Moktan sought information about her missing cousin, who also worked as a driver in Rasuwa. “I feel hopeless. It has already been four days,” she said. With Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

Headteacher saves 900 children from deadly flash flood in Nepal

A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing. Rajendra Dawadi decided to halt classes and order children to higher ground after receiving warnings about the scale of the flooding heading their way. Dawadi, the headteacher at Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in Nuwakot, which has 1,600 pupils, said he had received four warnings from different people within minutes, including one from Betrawati, a town directly upstream. This prompted him to take immediate action. “I decided I shouldn’t delay any more,” he told the BBC. “Even if the flood was not coming, it was just a matter of a single day’s classes.” Dawadi said during the evacuation of the school he saw a hostel building about 100 metres from the river being engulfed by the torrent of flood water. “If we had made the decision 10 minutes later, all of us, including the students and me, would not be able to speak to you today,” he said. One student said Dawadi’s decision had saved their lives with moments to spare. Yunisha, 16, told reporters: “I, along with my friends, survived by just 10 seconds.” She described the children running up a muddy path to escape as water and debris inundated the town. “Within no time, the bazaar was swept away in front of my eyes,” she said. She was reunited with her family three days later. At least 69 schools have been destroyed or damaged by the floods, affecting nearly 19,000 children, according to the charity Save the Children. In Dhading, one of the areas worst hit by the floods, a group of schoolchildren survived the disaster when they left their classroom for their lunch break. Others in the area escaped when teachers told them to quickly evacuate classrooms just before the waters came crashing in. The mother of one child told the Associated Press that teachers had warned students: “There is a flood and you should leave bags and tiffins. That’s how they managed to survive.” More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far. The country said on Sunday 2,502 people, including 592 foreigners, were out of contact. It reported an updated death toll of 781 people. The disaster, which struck the Nepal-Tibet border region of the Himalayas on Wednesday morning, was caused by a glacial collapse that sent a wall of water and debris cascading downstream, the US Geological Survey said. Nepal’s foreign minister has called for a global response to the climate crisis, saying the Nepali people had disproportionately become “major victims of climate change” despite having contributed a fraction of the planet’s fossil fuel emissions.

Fifteen Britons among 261 foreigners missing in China after floods

Fifteen British nationals are reported to be missing in China as the search continues for survivors of the devastating flooding in Nepal and Tibet. Nepali and Chinese authorities confirmed an updated death toll of at least 810 on Sunday. More than 3,000 people are believed missing after flash floods triggered by a massive glacier collapse in the Himalayas on Wednesday engulfed Gyirong port on the Nepal-China border. The 15 missing British people are among 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries missing in China, according to figures released by Chinese authorities, bringing the total of missing Britons between Tibet and Nepal to 48. The Tibet autonomous region’s government said the total missing there also included 104 Nepalis, 49 people from India, 33 from Latvia and 18 from the US. Thirty-three British people had already been declared missing on the Nepal side of the border. Some were on a pilgrimage at the time of the flood, including Hemangini Jitendra Patel and Hema Sunil Amin, two sisters who were last seen on the Friendship Bridge on the border. The figure for missing Americans has been disputed by the US state department, which declared on Sunday that at least 85 US citizens were missing. The department’s spokesperson, Tommy Pigott, said getting accurate information from the region had been difficult, “made even more so by the devastation and the remoteness that we see”. Chinese authorities have said at least 16 people have died on their side of the border. But there are concerns over a possible lack of transparency from the Chinese government, which has prevented footage of the floods from being shared in the country and may have downplayed the casualties. Police in Nepal said 794 people had been confirmed to have died there and at least 2,742 injured. Numerous areas remain at risk of fresh flooding and people who have returned to their homes have been told to remain alert and be prepared to evacuate again at short notice. Rescue efforts have been affected by the threat of landslides and dangerous weather as well as confusion over which side of the border victims had been on when the waters struck. Chinese state television reported that officials in Beijing, far better resourced than their Nepali counterparts, had mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers and allocated more than 220m yuan (£24m) to support relief efforts. Equipment and supplies have been airdropped to frontline workers, while Chinese soldiers used life-detection equipment to look for the missing, CCTV said. The Chinese premier, Li Qiang, had already travelled to the region. Numerous countries have pledged to help Nepal, including the US, which has offered $3.6m (£2.7m) in humanitarian aid, “including up to three months of emergency food assistance to up to 10,000 flood-affected households”, on top of $500,000 previously pledged, and Australia, which will donate more than $3m in assistance. Britain has committed £5m to Nepal and sent a rapid deployment team, which arrived in Kathmandu on Saturday. A UK Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are working around the clock to support British nationals and their families affected by the devastating floods on the Nepal-China border. We are coordinating closely with the Nepali and Chinese authorities and have deployed consular support staff to the region to ensure British nationals can access support.”