In another night of extreme violence in Ukraine’s air war, a massive Russian attack left at least 16 people dead on Wednesday (19) in an important city in the west of the country that was invaded in 2022. Neighboring Poland and Romania mobilized fighters and closed their airspace for fear of drone or missile incursion.
This time, unlike other occasions, this did not happen. Not that there was a shortage of candidates: Moscow launched 524 drones and missiles mainly at western Ukraine. In Ternopil, which is 120 kilometers from the regional center of Lviv, a residential building was subjected to a direct hit.
In addition to the dead, there are at least 64 wounded, including 14 children, according to the city council. Kiev claimed to have shot down 442 of 476 drones and 41 of 48 missiles launched, with 14 direct impact points and 6 hit by debris.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that this measure came in response to Ukrainian “terrorist attacks” against its territory, which targeted military and energy infrastructure. Electricity is scheduled to be cut off in all surrounding areas on Wednesday, and gas distribution through pipelines will be affected, with temperatures in the country reaching zero degrees Celsius.
On the other hand, Kiev carried out a highly symbolic attack against Voronezh, using US ATACMS artillery missiles with a range of up to 300 km. They haven’t been fired yet.
Russia claims to have shot down the four projectiles that were fired. Ukraine said nine of them hit targets. Ukraine has asked its allies for more longer-range weapons, such as US Tomahawk missiles, and the attack is a reminder of Russia’s vulnerabilities.
The nighttime tensions prompted Romania to launch F-16 fighters into the air, while Poland did the same and closed airports and airspace in Rzeszow and Lublin in the east of the country.
Tensions are particularly high in Warsaw, which was the target of a major raid by Russian drones in September, and on Sunday (16) saw a bomb explode in a section of the railway line linking the capital to the Ukrainian border.
The government accuses Russia of using two Ukrainians who fled to Belarus in the operation. Last Wednesday, Chancellor Radoslaw Sikorski raised his tone in his speech to Parliament, saying the incident was an “act of state terrorism” against Poland.
In response, he announced the closure of the last of the three Russian consulates still operating in the country, in Gdańsk (north). The Kremlin, which denies responsibility and attributes the accusation to fear of Russia, said it regretted the decision and that there would be a proportionate response against Polish representation in Russia.
In another front of friction with NATO members, the United Kingdom said it would consider “military options” if it saw the Russian underwater mapping ship north of Scotland “become a threat.” Airplanes were sent to monitor the ship’s actions.
On the ground, the war still leans toward the Russian side. Fierce battles are taking place in the Pokrovsk region (east), which led to the expulsion of Kiev forces from the Zaporizhzhya Front (south), where Moscow is making faster progress. Kobyansk (North) is about to become the first medium-sized Ukrainian city to fall twice into Russian hands during the conflict.
All of this is unfolding amid Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s attempt to revive peace talks. Next Wednesday, he will meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has good relations with Vladimir Putin, and American envoys.
The Kremlin decided not to send anyone to attend the meeting. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also downplayed the importance of a report published by the American website Axios, stating that Donald Trump has a new 28-point plan to end the war. According to him, there has been no news since the Republican canceled a new summit with Putin last month.
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