Lead: On Wednesday, November 19, 2025, a large-scale barrage of Russian drones and missiles struck multiple Ukrainian regions, killing at least 25 people — including three children — and wounding nearly 100 others. The deadliest impact was in the western city of Ternopil, one of the worst strikes so far far from the frontline since Moscow’s 2022 invasion. Ukrainian officials said the assault involved more than 470 attack drones and 48 missiles, and that power outages and structural damage were reported across several regions. The attacks coincided with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s visit to Turkiye for talks aimed at ending the war.
Key Takeaways
- Casualties: At least 25 people were killed in Ternopil, including three children; nearly 100 people were reported wounded across affected regions.
- Scale of strike: Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched more than 470 attack drones and 48 missiles of various types overnight on November 19, 2025.
- Regional impact: Ternopil saw a multi-storey residential block heavily damaged; Kharkiv region reported at least 36 injured and damage to apartments, a school, a supermarket and an ambulance substation.
- Infrastructure damage: Ukraine’s energy ministry reported emergency power outages in several regions after the strikes.
- Cross-border effects: Poland briefly closed Rzeszow and Lublin airports and scrambled allied aircraft amid spillover concerns.
- Ukrainian response: Kyiv said it fired four US-made ATACMS missiles toward Russia’s Voronezh region on the same day, which Moscow said were intercepted and caused roof damage but no casualties.
- Defense requests: President Zelenskyy renewed calls for additional air-defence missile systems and other hardware, citing the intensity and range of the attacks.
Background
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Kyiv has faced repeated missile and drone campaigns that increasingly target energy and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine. In recent months Moscow has stepped up long-range and mass-drone attacks that Ukrainian officials say are intended to damage power grids ahead of winter. Western countries have supplied varying air-defence systems, but Kyiv and some lawmakers argue the flow has not matched the scale of the threat.
Past incidents have shown the conflict spilling beyond the immediate front lines: Russian strikes have hit western cities less frequently, making the Ternopil impact notable because it was far from the active front. Poland and other neighbours have grown concerned about misfires and debris falling near their borders; Warsaw has bolstered its own air-defence posture along the roughly 530 km border with Ukraine. Diplomacy and arms agreements this year, including an accord with France on fighter jets and other hardware, reflect efforts to strengthen Kyiv’s capability.
Main Event
Early on November 19, 2025, Ukrainian authorities reported a coordinated overnight assault using hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles. The interior ministry confirmed the death toll in Ternopil at 25, including three children, and said 73 people there were wounded. In Kharkiv region police reported at least 36 injured and damage to multiple residential buildings and public facilities.
Visual accounts and local reporting showed severe structural damage in Ternopil: images circulating on Ukrainian monitoring channels depicted a tower block with upper floors ripped away and thick black smoke rising from the scene. Regional governor statements said an energy facility and an industrial site in Lviv region were damaged, though initial local reports did not list casualties there.
President Zelenskyy, travelling to Turkiye for negotiations, posted that the attack demonstrated the insufficient pressure on Russia and asked allies for more air-defence missile aid. Kyiv also said its forces fired four US-made ATACMS missiles toward Voronezh in southern Russia on Wednesday, describing the strikes as aimed at military targets; Moscow said its air-defence systems intercepted the projectiles and that falling debris damaged roofs at several civilian buildings but caused no injuries.
Analysis & Implications
The scale and dispersal of the overnight assault underline a persistent escalation trend: using massed drones together with cruise and ballistic missiles complicates interception efforts and strains air-defence inventories. Russia’s use of hundreds of drones in a single wave increases the probability that some will penetrate protected zones, particularly in regions where systems are limited or focused elsewhere.
Targeting western cities like Ternopil has strategic as well as psychological effects. Strikes far from the frontline signal that Kyiv’s interior regions remain vulnerable, undermining public confidence and pressing the government to accelerate requests for additional long-range and short-range air-defence assets. For partners, the choice to provide more systems entails political, logistical and training commitments that take time to deliver.
Economically, repeated damage to power and industrial infrastructure ahead of winter risks compounding civilian hardship and increasing the humanitarian burden. If damage to energy networks becomes more frequent, repair needs and procurement costs will grow, and winter readiness could be jeopardized. Internationally, such high-profile attacks strengthen arguments among Kyiv’s supporters for faster and more substantial military aid but also raise the stakes for escalation and regional safety.
Comparison & Data
| Item | Count / Impact |
|---|---|
| Attack drones reported | More than 470 |
| Missiles reported | 48 |
| People killed (Ternopil) | At least 25 (including 3 children) |
| People wounded (national, reported) | Nearly 100 |
| Wounded in Ternopil | 73 |
| Injured in Kharkiv region | At least 36 |
| ATACMS fired by Ukraine (reported) | 4 |
The table aggregates the principal figures reported by Ukrainian authorities and by Moscow for the events of November 19, 2025. Numbers remain provisional as on-the-ground assessments continue and as different agencies report regional totals.
Reactions & Quotes
Ukrainian leadership framed the strikes as further evidence that more international pressure and air-defence aid are needed. President Zelenskyy used the moment of his foreign visit to press allies for missile defence supplies and to link the attacks to the broader diplomatic effort to end the war.
“Every brazen attack against ordinary life shows that the pressure on Russia is insufficient,”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine (social media)
On the defensive and investigative side, regional officials described the human and infrastructure toll and the immediate emergency response. Local governors and police detailed evacuations, search-and-rescue activity, and damage assessments that unfolded through the morning.
“Russian S-400 air defence crews and Pantsir missile and gun systems shot down all ATACMS missiles,”
Russian Ministry of Defence (Telegram)
Lawmakers and analysts in Kyiv reiterated requests for more integrated air-defence layers, arguing that add-on deliveries of surface-to-air missiles and interceptor systems remain urgent to reduce civilian casualties and infrastructure loss.
“We are intercepting part of them but we definitely need more weapons, more systems, more air defence,”
Oleksiy Goncharenko, Ukrainian lawmaker
Unconfirmed
- Precise nationwide casualty totals remain provisional; regional tallies are still being compiled and may change as rescue teams complete searches.
- Russian claims that all ATACMS were intercepted and that falling debris caused only minor roof damage in Voronezh are based on official statements and imagery but have not been independently verified by neutral observers.
- Full attribution of damage to specific weapon types at each hit site requires forensic munition analysis, which has not yet been released publicly.
Bottom Line
The November 19 strikes on Ukraine marked another intensification in Russia’s campaign to strain Ukrainian infrastructure and morale, with a high human cost in Ternopil and damage reported across multiple regions. The scale of the attack — hundreds of drones plus dozens of missiles — underscores the continuing challenge Kyiv faces in defending a geographically large country with limited, distributed air-defence resources.
For Kyiv’s international partners, the strikes sharpen the calculus over accelerating deliveries of interceptors, integrated air-defence systems and replenishment stocks. For civilians, the immediate priority is search, rescue and restoring basic services ahead of winter; for policymakers, it is balancing aid speed with mitigation of escalation risks.
Sources
- Al Jazeera — Independent international news outlet reporting on the November 19, 2025 strikes.
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Official Twitter — Official social-media statements from the President of Ukraine about the attacks and defence needs.
- Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) — Official agency statements regarding temporary airport closures and airspace safety (government agency).
- Russian Ministry of Defence (Telegram) — Official Russian defence ministry statements on intercepts and the reported fate of incoming missiles (official channel).