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Saturday, December 13, 2025  
21 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1447  

19 killed and 66 wounded in heavy Russian attack on Ukraine

Russia launched more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the overnight attack, officials say
Residents walk in front of an apartment building which was damaged during a morning Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Ternopil, Ukraine November 19, 2025. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via//REUTERS
Residents walk in front of an apartment building which was damaged during a morning Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Ternopil, Ukraine November 19, 2025. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via Telegram/Handout via//REUTERS

Nineteen people were killed in a heavy overnight Russian missile and drone attack that struck an apartment building in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.

Another 66 people were wounded in the overnight strikes on Ukraine that targeted energy and transport infrastructure, forcing emergency power cuts in several regions in frigid temperatures.

The upper floors of the residential building in Ternopil were torn away in the attack. Black smoke poured upwards, while an orange glow burned through the haze from a fire in the tower block.

Russia launched more than 470 drones and 48 missiles in the overnight attack, officials said.

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

Zelensky calls for more pressure on Russia

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed multi-storey residential buildings had been hit in Ternopil, and said others may be trapped under the rubble.

He 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.

Energy officials said energy infrastructure had been struck in seven Ukrainian regions. A Reuters witness in the western city of Lviv reported hearing explosions.

The full extent of the damage was not immediately clear, but restrictions were placed on power usage for consumers across the country.

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