Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine
The death toll from a massive overnight strike by Russian forces on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil has risen to 25, according to a report by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. Three children were among the dead. Another 73 people were injured, including 15 children.
Emergency workers have already pulled 45 people out from under the rubble. Rescue operations are ongoing.
The attack damaged multi-story apartment buildings as well as industrial and warehouse facilities, sparking large fires. Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said two nine-story apartment blocks were hit: one was set ablaze, while the other was effectively destroyed from the third story up.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian forces used 470 attack drones and 48 ballistic and cruise missiles in the overnight barrage. Aside from Ternopil, Russian forces struck the regions of Kharkiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, Dnipro, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, and Donetsk.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported detecting 476 strike drones of various types including the Shahed and Gerbera, along with 40 Kh-101 cruise missiles, 7 Kalibr cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea, and one Iskander-M ballistic missile launched from Russia’s southern Rostov Region.
483 of the 524 total targets were suppressed, while 7 missiles and 34 strike drones hit 14 locations. Debris from UAVs that were shot down landed in 6 areas.