Nineteen people were killed and sixty six wounded in one of the heaviest Russian attacks in months as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepared to travel to Turkey on Wednesday in a renewed push to revive stalled peace negotiations with Moscow.
The overnight barrage, which struck multiple regions, tore through the upper floors of a residential tower in the western city of Ternopil.
Officials said more victims may be trapped beneath the rubble. The strikes also targeted energy and transport infrastructure, triggering emergency power cuts as temperatures plunged.
Ukraine’s energy ministry reported damage in seven regions. In Lviv, explosions were heard by a Reuters witness and residents in Kyiv sheltered in metro stations during the onslaught.
Authorities said Russia launched more than 470 drones and 48 missiles during the attack.
Poland, a Nato member bordering western Ukraine, temporarily closed the Rzeszow and Lublin airports and scrambled Polish and allied aircraft as a precaution to safeguard its airspace.
Zelensky confirmed that multi storey residential buildings had been hit and urged allies to ramp up pressure on Russia by supplying more air defence missiles and enforcing stronger sanctions. He said every fresh strike showed that international pressure on Moscow remained insufficient.
The attack came as Zelensky prepared for talks in Turkey aimed at reinvigorating peace efforts. The Ukrainian leader said he intended to discuss with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan the steps needed to work toward a just peace.
He stressed that bringing the end of the war closer was Ukraine’s top priority.
Turkey, which has maintained close ties with both Kyiv and Moscow despite being a Nato member, hosted the only round of face to face peace talks in the early weeks of the war in 2022.
No direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia have taken place since a meeting in Istanbul in July. A new diplomatic push has gathered momentum in recent weeks, although Moscow has shown no sign of altering its conditions for ending the conflict.
The Kremlin said it would not take part in the Ankara talks but noted that President Vladimir Putin remained open to hearing from the United States and Turkey about any outcomes.
A Turkish source said US special envoy Steve Witkoff could visit Turkey, though another official said Turkish authorities were expecting only Zelensky.
Axios reported on Tuesday that Washington had been working on a 28 point plan to end the war in consultation with Russia.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed the suggestion and said there were no new developments since Putin and US President Donald Trump met in Alaska in August.
He reiterated that Russia had not modified the peace terms laid out by Putin in June 2024, which require Kyiv to renounce its plans to join Nato and withdraw troops from the four Ukrainian provinces that Moscow claims as part of Russia. Ukraine has rejected those demands.
Russia is not currently holding contacts with US envoy Steve Witkoff, Russian state news agency RIA cited Peskov as saying on Wednesday.
RIA also cited Peskov as saying that Witkoff is welcome to come to Russia at any time.
Trump has sought to mediate an end to the conflict but his efforts have so far fallen short.
A planned summit with Putin in Budapest was abruptly cancelled last month by the Trump administration. The Kremlin said there had been no new proposals put on paper despite what Axios reported.
Nearly four years after Russian forces entered Ukraine, Moscow’s troops continue to grind forward and now control about 19 per cent of Ukrainian territory.
Russia says Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are part of its federation. Kyiv and its Western partners say they will never accept those claims.
As part of a separate diplomatic track, a United States delegation led by Army Secretary Dan Driscoll arrived in Kyiv on a fact finding mission. Army Chief of Staff General Randy George is also part of the team and both officials are scheduled to meet Zelensky on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the visit. The US embassy in Kyiv confirmed the delegation’s presence.
The intensity of Russia’s latest strikes and the heavy civilian toll have added urgency to Zelensky’s diplomatic drive. He said Ukraine would continue working with partners to bring an end to the war that has devastated cities, displaced millions and become Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War II.