Rescuers continue to recover bodies from rubble, days after deadly Russian attack on western Ukraine

By Victoria Butenko, Kosta Gak, Todd Symons and Catherine Nicholls, CNN

Kyiv, Ukraine (CNN) — Rescuers were still working through the rubble on Friday, uncovering more bodies after a Russian attack hit apartment buildings in western Ukraine earlier this week, killing at least 31 people including several children, according to authorities.

Ukraine’s emergency service said Thursday that people were still missing after the airstrikes on two apartment blocks in the western city of Ternopil. On Friday, three more bodies were recovered, including those of two children. Ukraine’s interior minister said the strikes may have wiped out entire families.

The large-scale Russian attack overnight Tuesday was one of the deadliest to target western Ukraine since the start of the conflict and prompted NATO to scramble fighter jets over neighboring Poland and Romania.

Russia “will never stop on its own,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a post on Telegram, urging allies to increase pressure on Moscow to halt the violence and restore peace.

Oksana Kobel’s son was in a ninth-story apartment in the building at the time of the attack.

“I went to work, heard the explosions. I called him and said, ‘Bohdan, go to the shelter, get dressed.’ He answered, ‘Mom, I am already up. Everything will be fine,’” she said Wednesday, according to Reuters.

Russia’s attacks have mostly targeted the eastern part of the country and large cities such as Kyiv, and many Ukrainians have fled to the west.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles during the attack. The buildings in Ternopil were most likely hit by Russia’s powerful Kh-101 cruise missile, which is designed to avoid air defenses and is equipped with an advanced precision guiding system, they said.

Romania’s Defense Ministry said it scrambled two Eurofighters, part of NATO’s fleet, and later two Romanian F-16 fighter jets after a Russian drone entered its airspace during the attack.

Polish and allied fighter jets were also launched to protect Polish airspace on Wednesday morning, the country’s operational command said.

Meanwhile, US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and a top-level Pentagon delegation were in Ukraine on Thursday for meetings with officials following reports that Russia and the US were working on peace proposals that call for Ukraine to cede land and reduce the size of its army.

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski told CNN that any peace plan would have to involve Europe and leave Ukraine with the capacity to defend itself.

“Poland is a neighbor of both Russia and Ukraine, and the (European Union) is helping Ukraine more, including militarily, than the US, and also financially more than the US. So we have a much bigger stake in this than the US,” he said.

NATO allies have increasingly scrambled fighter jets in recent months during Russian attacks on Ukraine, or when stray Russian munitions, drones and warplanes have either strayed too close to their borders or crossed them.

The latest move by NATO comes during a tense week. Polish officials have pointed the finger at Russia after a key train track was destroyed in what Warsaw said was an “unprecedented act of sabotage” committed by two Ukrainian citizens who were “collaborating with Russian services.” Russian officials have denied the accusation.

On Wednesday, Poland’s Sikorski said he would close the last Russian consulate in the country in response to the destruction of the train track. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov expressed regret over the move.

On Tuesday, the US State Department approved a possible $105 million sale that would allow Ukraine to upgrade its Patriot air defense system – a critical shield against Russian aerial attacks.

“The proposed sale will improve Ukraine’s ability to meet current and future threats by further equipping it to conduct self-defense and regional security missions with a more robust local sustainment capability,” said a Pentagon statement.

Earlier this week, Zelensky struck a deal during a visit to Paris to purchase “up to 100” French-made Rafale fighter jets as well as anti-air defenses and drones from France.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

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Symons reported from Hong Kong and Nicholls from London. CNN’s Antonia Mortensen, Anna Chernova and Nina Subkhanberdina contributed to this report.