A massive overnight barrage of Russian drones and missiles struck the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, killing 19 people and injuring at least 66 others, authorities said on Wednesday, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy travelled to Turkey to seek fresh diplomatic support against Moscow’s invasion.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the attack hit two nine-storey apartment buildings, where emergency crews continued searching the rubble for survivors. Ternopil, located about 200 kilometres from the Polish border, has been regarded as one of Ukraine’s safer regions since the start of the war.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 476 strike and decoy drones and 48 missiles of various types during the night, including 47 cruise missiles. Air defences shot down all but six cruise missiles, it said. Western-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 jets intercepted at least 10 of them.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia is insufficient,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.
Zelenskyy said he would meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan later Wednesday as part of efforts to increase international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the talks would focus on strengthening diplomatic efforts to secure “a just peace.”
The Ukrainian leader also referred to “some positions and signals” from the United States, without elaborating. Tough new US sanctions targeting Russia’s oil industry are set to take effect on Friday, aimed at pushing Moscow toward negotiations.
A senior Turkish official initially said US special envoy Steve Witkoff would join Zelenskyy in Turkey but later retracted that statement, noting the envoy would not attend.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, nearly 50 people were injured in Russian strikes across three other regions. Russia’s Defence Ministry said it targeted Ukrainian energy facilities, drone depots and military-industrial sites in response to Kyiv’s recent attacks on Russian territory.
Romania scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s after a drone entered its airspace during the strikes, its defence ministry said. Poland also deployed military aircraft overnight and temporarily closed Rzeszów and Lublin airports to prioritise military flights.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian drones injured 46 people, including two children, regional chief Oleh Syniehubov said. The attacks damaged residential buildings, a school, an ambulance station and other civilian infrastructure.
Russia, meanwhile, claimed Ukraine fired four US-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian city of Voronezh on Tuesday. The missiles were intercepted but debris damaged several buildings. There were no casualties, according to Moscow. Ukraine’s military said it fired ATACMS missiles but provided no details.