20 DEAD, OVER 100 INJURED IN RUSSIAN AIRBORNE ATTACKS ON UKRAINE . (PHOTO).

 20 dead, over 100 injured in Russian airborne attacks on Ukraine 

At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 others injured after Russian forces launched a massive overnight assault on Ukraine, deploying over 500 drones and missiles across multiple regions. The deadliest attack struck the western city of Ternopil, about 70 miles southeast of Lviv, where a nine-story apartment building was almost completely destroyed. Twenty people were killed and 66 were injured, including 16 children, according to Ukraine’s Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko. Footage from the site showed the building reduced to rubble above the third floor.

Emergency crews continued searching the wreckage Wednesday morning, while local authorities advised residents to remain indoors and keep windows closed due to toxic gases and airborne particulates measuring six times normal levels. Surrounding provinces, including Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Khmelnytskyi, were also targeted, with attacks hitting energy, transport, and other civilian infrastructure. Three people were injured in Ivano-Frankivsk, while damage to power facilities in Khmelnytskyi left roughly 2,000 residents without electricity amid sub-zero temperatures.

In the east, Kharkiv endured drone strikes across three districts, injuring at least 30 people and setting buildings and vehicles ablaze. President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Dnipro were also struck, with the attacks involving more than 470 drones and 48 missiles, primarily cruise missiles. The Ukrainian military said air defenses intercepted 442 drones and 41 missiles, but seven missiles and 34 drones penetrated defenses to strike 14 locations, with six additional sites damaged by falling debris.

The strikes coincided with Zelensky’s trip to Turkey from Spain to meet President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an effort to “reinvigorate” stalled peace talks with Moscow. Reports indicate U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff has been negotiating behind the scenes with Russian counterpart Kirill Dmitriev to advance a peace plan, though Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to confirm talks and said Moscow would not send a representative to the Ankara meeting. The timing of the attacks also followed Zelensky’s meeting in Kyiv with U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, the highest-ranking U.S. officials to visit Ukraine in nine months.