The number of people killed in a Russian missile and drone strike on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil has risen to 25, including three children, the interior ministry said.
“Twenty-five people, including three children, were killed as a result of Russian shelling of the city. Another 73 people, including 15 children, were wounded,” the ministry said on social media, updating earlier tolls from one of the deadliest strikes on the west of the country since Russia invaded in February 2022.
The overnight strikes on Ukraine targeted energy and transport infrastructure, forcing emergency power cuts in a number of regions in frigid temperatures.
The upper floors of the residential building in Ternopil were torn away in the attack. Black smoke poured upwards, while an orange glow burned though the haze from a fire in the tower block.
Russia launched more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the overnight attack, officials said.
Rescue workers assist an elderly woman during the overnight drone attack on Kharkiv
Poland, a NATO member state bordering western Ukraine, temporarily closed Rzeszow and Lublin airports in the southeast of the country and scrambled Polish and allied aircraft as a precaution to safeguard its airspace.
Russia used more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the attack
President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed multi-storey residential buildings had been hit in Ternopil, and said others may be trapped under the rubble.
He urged allies to increase pressure on Russia to end its nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, including by providing Ukraine with more air-defence missiles.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life shows that the pressure on Russia is insufficient. Effective sanctions and assistance to Ukraine can change this,” he said on X.
Energy officials said energy infrastructure had been struck in seven Ukrainian regions. A Reuters witness in the western city of Lviv reported hearing explosions.
The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear but restrictions were placed on power usage for consumers across the country.
A high-rise apartment building in Ternopil was struck during the Russian attack (Credit: Ukraine State Emergency Service)
Mr Zelensky is in Turkey for talks to revive peace efforts to end the war with Russia, his top aide said, amid uncertainty over whether US special envoy Steve Witkoff would attend.
“Arrived in Türkiye as part of the delegation led by President Zelensky,” the Ukrainian leader’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said on X, adding he was “in constant communication” with Mr Witkoff, who has not confirmed whether he will take part in the talks.
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The Kremlin said that there had been no innovations on possible peace proposals for ending the conflict in Ukraine since the Alaska summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in August.
When asked about an Axios report that the Trump administration was working on a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was nothing he could share in public.
Asked to clarify if there were innovations compared to Mr Putin’s 2024 proposals, Mr Peskov said that in addition to the discussions at the Anchorage summit, there were no innovations.
Firefighters extinguish burning cars after a Russian drone attack on Kharkiv
Meanwhile, two top US Army officials have made a rare wartime visit to Kyiv, arriving on an unannounced trip for talks with Ukraine’s leaders in an attempt to revive the stalled peace talks, Politico reported.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff General Randy George are due to meet President Zelensky, senior commanders and MPs, Politico said, citing people familiar with the planning.
Mr Trump has repeatedly promised to bring the war to a rapid close and urged his advisers to test ceasefire ideas with Ukraine and Russia, stirring unease in parts of Europe over any settlement that might entrench Russia’s hold on occupied territory.