At least 25 people, including three children, have been killed after a Russian missile and drone strike hit two apartment blocks in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, officials say. Another 73 people were injured, 15 of them children, in one of the deadliest attacks the region has faced since the full-scale invasion began in 2022.
Ukraine’s air force said Russian X-101 cruise missiles struck the residential buildings early Wednesday, while additional attacks were reported across Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Kharkiv, where more than 30 people were wounded in drone strikes.
Despite shooting down most of the incoming drones and missiles, Ukraine’s defence forces warned they are becoming overstretched and urgently appealed for uninterrupted Western weapons supplies.
Footage shared by President Volodymyr Zelensky showed one of the apartment blocks collapsed from the third to the ninth floor, with rescuers searching through rubble for survivors as fires burned and smoke rose above the city.
Energy infrastructure was also hit across western Ukraine, prompting new nationwide power cuts as Russia intensifies strikes on the country’s grid ahead of winter.
The attack comes as Zelensky travels to Ankara for talks aimed at reviving stalled peace efforts, while reports emerge of U.S.–Russia back-channel discussions — claims the Kremlin has dismissed.
Meanwhile, Romania and Poland scrambled jets after Russian drones briefly crossed into their airspace during the overnight barrage.
