Ukraine updates: Deadly Russian strikes hit Ternopil

Reports of a possible peace plan to end the conflict in Ukraine sound "like surrender," Oleksiy Goncharenko of Ukraine's opposition European Solidarity party told DW.

The lawmaker dismissed reports of a plan allegedly negotiated between the United States and Russia that would require Kyiv to cede land controlled by Russian forces and cut its military size by more than half, calling it disinformation by Moscow.

"The main guarantee for Ukraine, as for any other country, [is] its own armed forces," he said. "That's exactly what Russia wants — to reduce Ukrainian armed forces to finish Ukraine in the next attack."

Goncharenko said he did not believe the US would "push Ukraine to surrender because it's not in the interest of Ukraine, nor of the United States." 

"I really want to thank President [Donald] Trump for his efforts trying to achieve peace, but to achieve peace this agreement should be in Ukrainian interests too, and I think he realizes this," he added.

Reports of the peace plan apparently negotiated between the US and Russia come as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy faces his biggest domestic crisis in years, with close aides under investigation for a major criminal scheme and two ministers having resigned.

"Zelenskyy is definitely weaker because of the scandal at home, and this is a bad story overall," Goncharenko said.

He added that any deal would not have to be accepted by Zelenskyy alone, but by Ukrainian society as a whole.

"If we want to have any agreement, Ukrainian society should accept it. There are things which are acceptable for Ukrainian society; there are things which are not," he said.
 

Italy's top court has cleared the last obstacle for Serhii K., a Ukrainian national, be extradited to Germany.

K., whose full name is withheld due to the German press code guidelines, was arrested in August in connection with the September 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

He has been fighting attempts to transfer him to Germany since he was detained on a European arrest warrant in the Italian town of Rimini.

Wednesday's Italian Supreme Court ruling means he will now be handed over to German authorities to answer charges related to a series of underwater explosions that caused serious damage to the pairs of Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, and essentially rendered all four inoperable. 

The United Kingdom warned Russia it was ready with "military options" after the Russian vessel Yantar was detected on the edge of UK waters north of Scotland.

Defense Secretary John Healey said the Yantar directed lasers at British pilots sent to monitor it.

"My message to Russia and to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is this: We see you. We know what you're doing. And if the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready," Healey said.

The Russian embassy, in a statement, accused the British government of being "Russophobic" and "whipping up militaristic hysteria," adding that Moscow has no interest in undermining the UK's security.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has condemned Russia's latest strikes on Ukraine, calling them "pure terror warfare."

"This has nothing to do with military objectives anymore. It is pure terror warfare against the civilian population of Ukraine," Merz said.

His comments came after at least 25 people were killed and dozens injured when Russian missiles hit two apartment blocks in Ternopil, a city in western Ukraine. 

Speaking alongside Sweden's Prime Minister in Berlin, Merz urged Europe to agree next month on using frozen Russian assets to pressure Moscow.

European leaders failed to agree on the "loan" for Kyiv last month and will discuss it again at a summit on December 18.

NATO member states should be more decisive in deterring Russia, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys told DW. 

In an exclusive interview, he warned against "naivety" and ignorance in Europe's approach to Russia. 

"I'm not sure whether we changed our calculation about what works and what not" when dealing with the Kremlin, he told Alexandra von Nahmen, Director of DW's Programs for Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe.

He said that Russia made its intentions clear shortly before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

"They want NATO to be destroyed and dismantled. They want Americans out with all their capabilities, including nuclear capabilities, and they are working on this specific goal. That's not all about Ukraine," Budrys said.

Lithuania is a NATO frontline state given its strategic location bordering Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and Belarus, a Russian ally.

Budrys pointed out that deterring Russia and protecting NATO's Eastern flank is a shared responsibility of all allies.

Even though NATO agreed on new regional defense plans and new capability targets, he said he sees "less enthusiasm and less mobilization" when it comes to implementing those plans compared to the begin of the war in Ukraine. 

In addition, Budrys called on the EU to increase pressure on Belarus.  

The Lithuanian foreign minister also emphasized that his country is looking forward to hosting a German brigade on its soil that is expected to be at full strength in 2027. Budrys praised "the seriousness and readiness on the German side."

"I see the increased defense spending that sends the message that it's not all about brigade, it's about armed forces of Germany. And this is a strong deterrence message. That's what we want. We want to preserve peace. This is the ticket of ours to peace for Lithuania," Budrys said.

Ukraine hopes to revive prisoner exchanges with Russia by year's end, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Wednesday. 

Turkey has previously helped arrange the swaps, the last one of which was in early October. 

Zelenskyy said Ukraine also counts on Turkey's diplomatic efforts to help end the war.

"Of course, we talked substantively about the situation in diplomacy. And now many processes have become more active, and we are trying to ensure that all activity is aimed specifically at peace," Zelenskyy said.

Turkey has played a mediator role since the war began in 2022. On Wednesday, Erdogan urged both sides to return to negotiations in Istanbul, where talks were held earlier this year.

"In today's meetings, we also emphasized the need for the Istanbul process to continue with a pragmatic and results-oriented approach," Erdogan said.

"We also expect all our partners who wish to see the bloodshed in the region come to an end to adopt a constructive approach toward the Istanbul process," he said.

No representative from the US or Russia took part in the talks. A senior Turkish official had initially said that US special envoy Steve Witkoff would join Zelenskyy in Turkey, but that was later taken back. 

Poland and Ukraine's special services will work together to try and prevent further sabotage, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. 

It comes after a rail line from Poland used for deliveries to Ukraine was blown up over the weekend.

Prosecutors said two Ukrainians will be charged with sabotage on behalf of Russia.

The pair had apparently been collaborating with the Russian secret Services for a long time.

Several others have been detained in connection with the blast, authorities said Wednesday. 

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also believed the sabotage had a "Russian link," and vowed full cooperation with Poland.

The European Commission has unveiled plans to speed up the movement of tanks and troops across Europe, amid growing fears of a future conflict with Russia.

Currently, heavy military equipment requires multiple permits and often encounters long detours due to poor roads and bridges.

Under the proposal, armed forces would get priority access to airports, railways and roads during emergencies, and some transport rules would be waived.

"The fast movement of Europe's militaries is essential for Europe's defense," EU foreign affairs chief Kaja Kallas said.

"Defense readiness fundamentally depends on whether you can get your tanks and troops to where you need them, when you need them," she added.

The European Commission also plans to invest more than €17 billion ($20 million) to upgrade 500 key choke points from Poland to Portugal.

"Weakness invites them to make their move," Kallas said, speaking of Russia. She said if the EU increases its defensive capabilities and readiness, "then Russia will not attack because we are not weak."

EU ministers and the European Parliament will now debate the plan. If approved, the system could be activated within 48 hours in a crisis.

As Russia attacked western Ukraine overnight into Wednesday, German fighter jets detected a drone entering Romania's airspace.

"Last night, German Eurofighter jets deployed under NATO's enhanced Air Policing South were activated following drone activity in Romanian airspace," Germany's NATO mission said on X. "After the German QRA element had assessed the situation, our Romanian partners took over the mission."

Both NATO member Romania and neighboring Moldova reported airspace violation by drones.

On Wednesday, Moldova's Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador to express "its strongest protest" against what it called a "serious violation."

In Poland, too, fighter jets were dispatched and airports suspended operations as Russia bombarded Ukraine near the border, but no drone airspace violation was reported.

Drones have violated the airspace of European and NATO members repeatedly in recent weeks, disrupting air traffic and prompting accusations that Moscow is the culprit.

Russia's early morning strike on Ukraine's western city of Ternopil was among the deadliest on Western Ukraine since the start of the war.

At least 25 people were killed, including three children, Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported, raising an earlier estimate.

Some 73 more were injured, including 15 children, Ukraine's state emergency service said on the Telegram messaging app, sharing photos of the aftermath.

The Ukrainian air force said Russia collectively fired 476 drones and 48 missiles of various types at Ukrainian targets overnight.

The strike on Ternopil hit two nine-story apartment blocks, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said. 

Officials released photos showing the scale of the destruction at one high-rise residential building, with several floors blown apart. Rescue workers could be seen going through blown-out windows.

Debris covered the city's streets and grey smoke engulfed it on Wednesday.

Ternopil is located around 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Polish border. Poland temporarily closed two airports.

Western Ukraine has generally been spared the brunt of Russian attacks compared to parts of the country closer to the front lines in the east. 

The attack coincided with Axios reports suggesting the Trump administration was drawing up a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine, with input from Moscow.

"This is how Russia's 'peace plans' look like in reality," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in reaction.

Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday dismissed the country's energy and justice ministers following a major corruption investigation.

Both Justice Minister German Galushchenko, who served as energy minister from 2021 to 2025, and current Energy Minister Svitlana Hrynchuk had already resigned under pressure from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid the probe into an alleged $100 million (roughly €86.3 million) scheme to control contracting at the state nuclear agency.

Both outgoing ministers deny any wrongdoing.

The corruption crisis sparked major controversy as Kyiv struggles to fund its war efforts to fend off Russian attacks.

Russian strikes on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil killed 20 people, the national police said on Wednesday, raising an earlier toll.

At least 66 more were injured, the police added, including children.

The Kremlin has declined to comment on reports by news website Axios that the Donald Trump administration was preparing a 28-point peace plan for Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday there was nothing he could share in public.

"In this case, there is nothing new that we can inform you about," he said when asked about the Axios report. Peskov added that there were no updates on possible peace proposals for ending the war in Ukraine since a summit in Alaska between Russia's Vladimir Putin and Trump in August.

The Reuters news agency cited an unnamed senior Ukrainian official as saying Kyiv received "signals" about a set of US proposals to end the war that it (the US) had discussed with Moscow, adding that Ukraine has had no role in preparing the proposals.

The US is preparing a 28-point peace plan that it would then present to Ukraine and Europe, after working on it with Russia, news website Axios cited anonymous US and Russian sources as saying.

The plan was inspired by US President Donald Trump's similar mediation efforts in Gaza, Axios said, which managed to see a ceasefire materialize in the devastated enclave after two years of war.

The Trump administration has been reportedly working on the plan in secret, in consultation with Russia. Kyiv and European backers' response to the plan has yet to be seen.

Warsaw has vowed it will respond to a sabotage attack which hit one of its railway lines last weekend.

The response will not only be by diplomatic means, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski according to Reuters news agency. He added that more will be shared "in the next few days."

"It was not only an act of sabotage but also an act of state terrorism. We will respond, not only diplomatically," Radoslaw Sikorski told lawmakers.

Sikorski later added that he would withdraw consent for the functioning of Russia's consulate in Gdansk, the last operating Russian consulate in Poland.

The Kremlin responded by saying it regretted Warsaw's decision, saying that the move showed what it called a lack of common sense and "Russophobia."

On Tuesday, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said investigators identified two Ukrainian citizens as the suspects allegedly responsible for the explosion. They had been allegedly commissioned to carry out the blast by Russian intelligence agents.