Russian airstrikes hit two apartment buildings in Ukraine overnight, killing more than two dozen people including three children
Major Russian attack on western Ukraine hits apartment buildings, killing 26
Russian airstrikes hit two apartment buildings in Ukraine overnight, killing more than two dozen people including three children, in a rare large-scale assault on the west of the country that prompted NATO to scramble fighter jets over neighboring Poland and Romania.
The massive assault on the western city of Ternopil killed at least 26 people and injured nearly 100 others, Ukraine’s interior minister said Wednesday. Earlier, Ukraine’s State Emergecy Service reported that 18 of the injured were children.
Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko suggested Wednesday evening that entire families are missing. He said officials do not have contact with 25 people and that “in some cases there is no one to file a report.”
Oksana Kobel remained hopeful that her son, who was in a ninth-floor apartment at the time of the attack, would be found alive.
“I went to work, heard the explosions. I called him and said, ‘Bohdan, go to the shelter, get dressed.’ He answered, ‘Mom, I am already up. Everything will be fine,’” she said, Reuters reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said emergency services still were working in the city “to help the victims and save as many lives as possible.”
He warned that the death toll could rise, as “there are still people trapped under the rubble.” Zelensky said that Russia “will never stop on its own,” and he urged allies to increase pressure on Moscow to halt the violence and restore peace.
Russia’s attacks have mostly targeted the eastern part of the country and large cities such as Kyiv. Many Ukrainians have fled to the west, seeing it as safer.
Romania’s Defense Ministry said it scrambled two Eurofighters, part of NATO’s fleet, and later two Romanian F-16 fighter jets after a Russian drone entered its airspace during the attack.
Polish and allied fighter jets were also launched to protect Polish airspace on Wednesday morning, the country’s operational command said.
Poland’s Rzeszow and Lublin airports, in the country’s east, were also closed “due to the need to ensure freedom of operation for military aviation,” the Polish air navigation service PANSA said on X. They were later reopened.
