At least 25 people, including three children, were killed in a Russian drone and missile attack on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil that struck two blocks of residential flats, said rescue officials. Besides, 73 people, including 15 children, were wounded in one of the deadliest Russian strikes on western Ukraine since Moscow launched a full-scale war in 2022. In a separate strike, a drone attack targeted three districts of the northern city of Kharkiv, leaving more than 30 people injured.
Two other western regions of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk were also hit, and photos posted online showed buildings and cars ablaze.
Ukraine’s air force claimed to have shot down 442 of 476 drones launched by Russia and 41 of 48 missiles that were fired.
Among the missiles hit, 10 were Russian cruise missiles downed by Ukrainian F-16 and Mirage 2000 jets, the air force said.
Ternopil, a city closer to the Polish border than the capital Kyiv, did not face such attacks till now. Videos on social media show missiles shooting towards the city with very little sign of reaction from air defences on ground.
President Volodymyr Zelensky shared a video that showed one of the two blocks of flats had completely caved in. The attack caused significant destruction, said Zelensky.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life shows that the pressure on Russia is insufficient. Effective sanctions and assistance to Ukraine can change this,” he said on X.
Across many of our regions, work is underway to address the aftermath of Russia’s attack. It is confirmed that Russia launched more than 470 attack drones and 48 missiles of various types against Ukraine overnight – one ballistic and the rest cruise missiles.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 19, 2025
In Ternopil,… pic.twitter.com/EwQmc6Nv1S
Energy facilities, transport, and civil infrastructure were also damaged in other locations across western Ukraine.
Russia has recently upped its attacks on Ukraine’s energy grid as the fourth winter of the war approaches, hoping to damage morale as well as logistics and Ukraine’s own defence industry.
Electrical supplies are already being rationed, and after the latest attacks, the energy ministry announced more power cuts.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had carried out its massive strike using long-range precision weapons, claiming it had targeted Ukraine’s ‘military-industrial complex and energy sector’ in response to Ukrainian attacks on ‘civilian targets’.
Ukraine’s military said on Tuesday it had fired US-supplied longer-range Atacms missiles at military targets inside Russia, the first time they had admitted using Atacms on Russian soil.
Meanwhile, Zelensky travelled to the Turkish capital Ankara and was due to hold talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan amid reports that President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has been working on a plan with Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev.
The Kremlin said no Russian representative would be joining the talks in Ankara. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on a media report that the US and Russia had been working on a peace plan for Ukraine.
“In this case, there is nothing new that we can inform you about,” Peskov told journalists.
His comments came amid reports that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Russia’s conditions for a peace deal had not changed since Putin laid them out in 2024.