russian Strikes Kill Dozens in Ternopil and Across Ukraine

At least 25 people have been killed, including three children, in a Russian drone and missile attack on the western city of Ternopil that hit two blocks of flats, Ukrainian rescue officials say.

Another 73 people were wounded, 15 of them children, officials said, in one of the deadliest Russian strikes on western Ukraine since the full-scale war began in 2022.

Two other western regions were hit, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, and a drone attack targeted three districts of the northern city of Kharkiv, wounding more than 30 people. Photos posted online showed buildings and cars ablaze.

Ukraine’s air force said it had shot down 442 of 476 drones launched by Russia and 41 of 48 missiles that were fired.

However, Ukraine’s air defenses are stretched thin.

Ternopil, a city closer to the Polish border than the capital kyiv, has rarely faced attacks during the full-scale invasion. Social media footage of this strike shows missiles shooting across the sky towards the city, with very little sign of air defenses reacting from the ground.

The devastation caused by the Russian strikes on Ternopil quickly became apparent. A video shared by Zelensky showed that one of the two blocks of flats had fully caved in. The interior minister Ihor Klymenko said it had been destroyed between the third and the ninth floor.

The attack caused “significant destruction,” said Zelensky, and many victims were reported to be in the rubble. Plumes of smoke poured from windows and small fires burned outside the tenement.