Russian strike kills 25 in Ukraine as Zelensky’s Turkey peace bid stumbles

Summary

• A Russian strike on Ternopil killed 25, including three children, raising doubts about Zelensky's peace talks in Turkey.
• The attack, one of the deadliest on western Ukraine, hit a residential building, causing fires and high chlorine levels.
• Zelensky urged Western backers to increase pressure on Russia, as Turkey hosts peace talks without Russian officials.

TERNOPIL, Ukraine - A Russian strike in western Ukraine on Nov 19 killed at least 25 people including three children, ripping the top floors off a block of flats, as an attempt by President Volodymyr Zelensky to revive the peace process with talks in Turkey fell flat.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy, Mr Steve Witkoff, did not travel to Turkey and Mr Zelensky walked away from talks he had hoped would “reinvigorate” diplomacy with little to show.

The attack on the city of Ternopil was the deadliest for weeks and the worst in the west of the country – far from the front line – since Moscow invaded in 2022.

AFP saw dozens of rescuers searching through rubble after cruise missiles slammed into apartment blocks, using cranes to get to the destroyed building.

Thick grey smoke engulfed the streets just after explosions were heard at 7am.

Ternopil officials reported the fires had caused chlorine levels in the air to spike to six times the norm, and called on the city’s 200,000 residents to stay home and close their windows.

Rescuers dangled on cabins hanging from cranes trying to reach the top of the stricken Soviet-era apartment block.

Wrapped in a pink blanket, 46-year-old Oksana waited for news of her 20-year-old son, Bohdan.

“I went to work, and my son stayed at home. I called him from the minibus and said ‘Bohdan, get dressed and come out’,” she said.

“He said: ‘Mum, don’t worry, everything will be fine.’ But it was too late. That’s it,” she told AFP.

Her sister, Ms Natalia Bachinska, said the family lived on the ninth floor.

“Their apartment is completely gone... He still has not been found.”

‘Peace plans’

The state emergency service said 25 people, including three children, were killed, and another 92 people, including 18 children, wounded.

Ukraine said the apartment blocks were hit with cruise missiles.

“This is how Russia’s ‘peace plans’ look like in reality,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said.

Mr Zelensky said: “These were people who were simply at home, peacefully sleeping,” warning that rescuers were still searching for people trapped in the rubble.

The strike came as Russia batters Ukraine’s energy grid ahead of the winter, and with Ukraine’s stretched troops under pressure on the front line.

In Moscow, the Kremlin declined to comment on a report by US media outlet Axios that it had been working on a secret plan with the US to end the almost four-year-long war.

Kyiv’s air force said Russia had fired more than 476 drones and 48 missiles overnight.

Neighbouring Romania scrambled fighter jets as it reported a Russian drone had crossed into its airspace, while Moldova also said its airspace was breached during the night.

Erdogan urges talks

Kyiv had pitched Mr Zelensky’s surprise visit to Turkey as part of efforts to re-engage the US in trying to end the war.

But Mr Trump’s envoy, Mr Witkoff, did not travel after Ukraine had said he was expected to join the talks.

And there were no Russian officials present.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged the warring sides to join talks in Istanbul, where three rounds of negotiations this year have yielded only prisoner exchanges and the repatriation of killed soldiers’ bodies.

“In today’s meetings, we also emphasised the need for the Istanbul process to continue with a pragmatic and results-oriented approach,” Mr Erdogan told a news conference alongside Mr Zelensky, following their talks.

Mr Zelensky said he wanted to resume POW swops with Russia by the end of the year.

But Kyiv’s main hope is that Washington can push Russia to the negotiating table, including by imposing sanctions.

Mr Trump has sought to leverage his relationship with Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the war, but has so far failed to make progress.

The Russian leader has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and has urged Mr Zelensky to cede more territory and renounce Western support to end the war – demands rejected by Kyiv as tantamount to capitulation.

“The war must end, there is no alternative to peace,” Mr Zelensky said in Ankara.

“Russia must realise that there should be no reward for war, for killings, and Russia must not have the opportunity to start another similar war.”

On the battlefield, Russian troops are making slow but steady advances and Moscow insists it will carry on fighting if Ukraine does not cave to its demands. AFP