A massive volley of Russian missiles and drones killed at least 25 people — including two children — across Ukraine overnight in one of the biggest aerial attacks since Moscow launched its full-scale war in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched 476 drones and 48 cruise and ballistic missiles at his country. Ukraine’s military said six or seven missiles and nearly three dozen drones made it past Ukraine’s air defenses.
Explosions and fires were reported close to the front lines around the eastern city of Kharkiv, but also far from the front, in the western city of Lviv, which is close to Ukraine’s border with NATO-member Poland.
Most of the deaths were in the western city of Ternopil, where the Interior Ministry said two high-rise apartment blocks and energy facilities were hit. Many of Ukraine’s regions reported some loss of power, as temperatures plunge and the need for heat becomes a matter of life and death.
Zelenskyy, on a visit to Turkey, said Russia’s latest attack showed the need for further international pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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“Every brazen attack against ordinary life indicates that the pressure on Russia is insufficient,” Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post.
Zelenskyy said he would ask Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to help increase Russia’s diplomatic isolation.
“Foremost, we will discuss maximum capabilities to ensure that Ukraine achieves a just peace,” he said, adding that his administration also saw “some positions and signals from the United States, well, let’s see tomorrow.”
Zelenskyy didn’t offer any further context on that statement, but new U.S. sanctions targeting Russia’s oil industry, aimed at forcing Putin to negotiate, are due to take effect Friday.
A U.S. official also confirmed to CBS News that Army Secretary Dan Driscoll was in Ukraine on Wednesday as part of a delegation trying to restart peace talks.
Zelenskyy was in Turkey on Wednesday following stops in Greece, France and Spain earlier in the week, where he sought further support for his country’s defense efforts. Turkey has maintained stable ties with both Russia and the U.S. throughout the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy may be hoping that Erdogan can use those ties to help bring Putin back to the table for talks on a lasting peace agreement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday there were no immediate plans for Putin to engage as the war grinds into its fourth winter, but he added that the Russian leader was “of course open to a conversation” — a sentiment voiced many times since the invasion began.