Ukraine’s western city of Ternopil was hit by a large Russian drone and missile barrage on Wednesday, killing at least 25 people, including three children, authorities said Wednesday.
The attack, which occurred during the night, hit two nine-storey apartment blocks in the city, which is located about 200 kilometres from the Polish border, according to Interior Minister, Ihor Klymenko.
While emergency crews were sifting through the rubble for survivors, rescue services said at least 73 people, including 15 children were injured in the attack that comprised 476 strike and decoy drones fired by Russia, as well as 48 missiles of various types, as per Ukraine’s air force.
The bombardment included 47 cruise missiles, prompting Romania to scramble two of its Eurofighter Typhoon jets and two F-16s when a drone entered the NATO member’s airspace during the Russian attacks, Romania’s Ministry of National Defense said.
However, Western-supplied F-16 and Mirage-2000 jets intercepted all but six of the 10 cruise missiles, the air force said.
The Polish military said that Polish and allied aircraft were deployed in the middle of the night as a preventive measure, while Poland’s Rzeszów and Lublin airports were closed temporarily to prioritize military aviation, the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency added.
Also Read: Russia launches massive drone, missile strikes on Kyiv
Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry Wednesday said it attacked Ukrainian energy facilities and military-industrial targets, including long-range drone depots, in retaliation against strikes by Kyiv on Russian territory on Tuesday.
The ministry said Ukraine fired four American-supplied ATACMS missiles at the Russian city of Voronezh, although all four were shot down. Though there were no casualties, the debris damaged a private house, an orphanage and a gerontology centre, the ministry said.
Ukraine’s General Staff on Tuesday reported firing ATACMS missiles at Russia without offering details.
In the backdrop of the latest attack by Russia, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Turkey in search of diplomatic support for his fight against Russia’s invasion.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia (to stop the war) is insufficient,” Zelenskyy wrote on the messaging app Telegram.
The Ukrainian President said he would meet with Turkey’s President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, later Wednesday as part of his efforts to pressurise Russian President Vladimir Putin diplomatically to corner him into negotiating peace in Ukraine.
“Foremost, we will discuss maximum capabilities to ensure that Ukraine achieves a just peace,” he said, adding that he has “good relations” with Erdogan.
Zelenskyy also said: “We see some positions and signals from the United States, well, let's see tomorrow.”
He didn’t elaborate. but tough new American sanctions on Russia’s oil industry, devised to push Putin to the negotiating table, are due to take effect on Friday.
Ternopil sits in a part of relatively peaceful western Ukraine, where many people from the east and south moved to as they fled danger along the front line.
Almost 50 people were injured in Russian strikes on three other Ukrainian regions.
In northeastern Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, Russian droned injured 46 people, including two girls, the head of the regional military administration, Oleh Syniehubov, wrote on Telegram.
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