22 people still missing in Ternopil after devastating Russian missile strike, 26 already confirmed dead
Search and rescue operations in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil have entered a second day, with 22 people still missing after a Russian attack, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 20.
"Over 230 rescuers from nine regions of Ukraine are involved in the operation. In some areas, work can only be done manually due to severe damage and fragmentation of structures," he said.
Russia carried out a large-scale overnight attack on multiple Ukrainian regions on Nov. 19. Oblasts in western Ukraine, including Ternopil, Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv, which are located over 500 kilometers (about 300 miles) from the front line and the Russian border, were hit in the attack.
A Russian strike on an apartment building in Ternopil killed at least 26 people, including three children, and injured 93 others, among them 18 children, according to Ukraine's Emergency Service.
Two nine-story apartment buildings were damaged in the strike. In one of them, the damage extended from the third to the ninth floor, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.
Klymenko described the destruction he encountered at the site. "I walked between the burnt walls — it was a terrible feeling," he said. "In each apartment — a whole life that Russia destroyed in an instant."
Residents tried to leap from upper-floor windows to escape the fire after the missile hit the building, Klymenko said.
The Ukrainian Air Force later confirmed that Russian forces carried out the strike using Kh-101 missiles launched from aircraft located in Russia's Vologda and Astrakhan oblasts.
Rescue workers continue search-and-recovery efforts and expect to be work throughout the night.
The Ternopil Oblast Military Administration also urged residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed, warning that the level of toxic substances in the city's air had risen to six times the normal limit.
Local authorities designated Nov. 19–21 as days of mourning for the victims.
"In light of the tragedy, all entertainment events in Ternopil have been canceled, and government buildings will lower their flags to half-mast," the statement said.
