At the very least 20 individuals have been killed together with two kids in a Russian drone and missile assault on the western metropolis of Ternopil that hit two blocks of flats, Ukrainian officers say.
One other 66 individuals had been wounded, 16 of them kids, police mentioned, in one of many deadliest Russian strikes on western Ukraine because the full-scale conflict started in February 2022.
Two different western areas had been hit, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, and a drone assault focused three districts of the northern metropolis of Kharkiv, wounding greater than 30 individuals. Images posted on-line confirmed buildings and automobiles ablaze.
Energy cuts had been affecting various areas throughout the nation, Ukraine’s vitality ministry mentioned.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned Russia had fired greater than 470 drones and 47 missiles, leaving “important destruction”. He warned that folks could possibly be trapped underneath the rubble in Ternopil.
The devastation attributable to the Russian strikes on Ternopil quickly grew to become clear. A video shared by Zelensky confirmed that one of many two blocks of flats had utterly caved in. The inside minister Ihor Klymenko mentioned it had been destroyed between the third and the ninth flooring.
Plumes of smoke poured from home windows and small fires burned exterior the tenement.
An enormous smoke cloud rose within the distance behind the Church of Our Woman of Perpetual Assist in Ternopil, as sirens blared all through town.
Power services, transport and civil infrastructure had been broken elsewhere in western Ukraine.
The vitality sector got here underneath assault in Ivano-Frankivsk area the place two of three individuals reported wounded had been kids.
The top of Lviv area mentioned an vitality facility had been struck.
The Russian strikes got here a day after Ukraine’s army mentioned it had fired US-supplied longer-range Atacms missiles at army targets inside Russia, the primary time they’ve admitted utilizing the Atacms on Russian soil.
Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukraine of firing 4 of the missiles on the southern metropolis of Voronezh however mentioned they’d all been shot down by air defences.
In the meantime, Zelensky is heading to the Turkish capital Ankara, in an try and revive a US bid to finish the conflict. He’ll maintain talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid reviews that President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff has been engaged on a plan with Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
The Kremlin mentioned no Russian consultant could be becoming a member of the talks in Ankara. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to touch upon a media report that the US and Russia had been secretly engaged on a peace plan for Ukraine.
“On this case, there may be nothing new that we are able to inform you about,” Peskov informed journalists on Wednesday.
His feedback got here amid reviews that Zelensky was attributable to meet two prime US military officers in Kyiv on Thursday. Military Secretary Dan Driscoll and Military Chief of Employees Normal Randy George are essentially the most senior US army officers to go to the Ukrainian capital since President Donald Trump took workplace, Reuters reviews.
In a separate growth, Romania’s defence ministry mentioned a Russian drone had flown for about 8km (5 miles) via its airspace within the early hours of Wednesday. The drone then crossed into Ukraine and Moldova earlier than returning to Romania, it mentioned.
Romanian and German air power planes had been scrambled in response to the incursion and the defence ministry mentioned it was unclear the place the drone had come down.
Poland additionally deployed jets early on Wednesday and quickly closed two airports within the southeast in response to the strikes in western Ukraine.
Because the fourth anniversary of the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion approaches subsequent February, Moscow and Kyiv stay basically opposed of their views of the best way to finish the conflict.
Earlier this month Russian International Minister Sergei Lavrov mentioned that Russia’s circumstances for a peace deal had not modified since Putin laid them out in 2024.
