Nine people were killed and dozens more wounded after Russian forces unleashed a sweeping overnight assault across Ukraine, striking deep into the country’s west in one of the deadliest attacks there since the full-scale invasion began nearly four years ago, according to BBC News.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said multiple nine-storey apartment blocks in the city of Ternopil were hit as Russia fired more than 470 drones and 47 missiles in what he condemned as a “brazen” nationwide attack. Rescue teams continued combing through the debris Wednesday, with fears that residents remained trapped beneath the rubble.
The strikes rippled far beyond Ternopil. In Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, three districts were battered by a drone swarm that set buildings and cars ablaze, injuring more than 30 people, including children. Across several regions, power was cut as energy infrastructure absorbed heavy damage, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.
Western regions rarely targeted so intensely were not spared. Energy facilities, transport links, and civil infrastructure were hit in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions, where local officials reported significant structural losses and outages.
The assault came just a day after Kyiv confirmed it had used U.S.-supplied long range ATACMS missiles to strike military targets inside Russia; its first public acknowledgment of such operations. Moscow’s defense ministry claimed four incoming missiles aimed at the city of Voronezh were intercepted.
As Ukraine reeled from the strikes, Zelensky prepared to travel to Ankara for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. The visit comes amid reports that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev have been exploring possible frameworks for renewed negotiations, though the Kremlin insisted no Russian officials would take part in the Ankara discussions.
Regional tensions escalated further when Romania said a Russian drone briefly crossed its airspace before looping through Ukraine and Moldova. Both Romanian and German jets were scrambled, and Poland dispatched fighters as well, temporarily shutting two southeastern airports as a precaution.
