Twenty-six killed, many missing in Russian strike on apartment buildings in west Ukraine

TERNOPIL, Ukraine (Reuters) -At least 26 people were killed and many were listed as missing in a Russian drone and missile attack overnight that hit apartment buildings in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, Ukraine's interior minister said on Wednesday.

Ihor Klymenko said 26 people were still missing after the overnight strikes, including three children. He said nearly 100 people had been hurt.

Russia fired 476 drones and 48 missiles at Ukraine, striking energy and transport infrastructure and forcing emergency power cuts in a number of regions in frigid temperatures.

The upper floors of a residential building in Ternopil were torn away in the attack. Smoke poured upwards as fire crews tried to douse flames, while devastated residents huddled outside waiting for news of loved ones.

Klymenko, writing on Telegram, said emergency crews were working through the night, combing the site of the shattered apartment building.

"A lot of work lies ahead. The main thing is to find those who could still be under the rubble," Klymenko wrote.

"In the building where two entrances were completely burned out, not a single apartment was left intact. The flames flared up instantly and engulfed the building in a wave. People were terrified and tried to jump out of windows."

Officials said three children were among the dead.

Oksana Kobel hoped her son would be found alive. He had been in a ninth-floor apartment at the time of the attack.

"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.

Poland, a NATO member state bordering western Ukraine, temporarily closed Rzeszow and Lublin airports in the southeast of the country and scrambled Polish and allied aircraft as a precaution to safeguard its airspace.

MORE PRESSURE ON RUSSIA

Russia launched the attack as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy travelled for talks in Turkey intended to help revive peace negotiations with Russia, after his short tour to European capitals.

Zelenskiy urged allies to increase pressure on Russia to end its nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, including by providing Kyiv with more air-defence missiles.

"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.

Ukraine will "bring Russia’s horrific murder... to the spotlight of tomorrow's U.N. Security Council meeting", Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

Zelenskiy's talks took place as sources said the United States had signalled to the president that Ukraine must accept a U.S.-drafted framework to end the war with Russia that proposes Kyiv giving up territory and some weapons.

Two people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified, said the proposals included cutting the size of Ukraine's armed forces, among other things.

Energy infrastructure was hit in seven Ukrainian regions in the overnight attack, officials said. Restrictions were placed on power usage for consumers across the country.

A Reuters witness in the western city of Lviv reported hearing explosions and the northwestern city of Kharkiv came under fire. Residents took cover in metro stations in Kyiv.

Russia, which denies deliberately targeting civilians, said it had launched airstrikes in response to what it called "terrorist attacks" on Russian territories. It said Ukrainian forces had fired four U.S.-made ATACMS missiles at the southern Russian city of Voronezh.

Ukraine's military said on Tuesday it had attacked military targets in Russia with the missiles.

(Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne, and Anastasiia Malenko and Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv; Editing by Timothy Heritage, Ron Popeski and Nia Williams)