Children are among dead as Putin hits apartments

THREE children were among 25 killed when Russian cruise missiles slammed into two apartment blocks in the western Ukrainian town of Ternopil.

- JOHN MARONE in Kyiv

At least 73 people were hurt, including 15 children. The death toll is expected to rise as bodies are recovered from beneath the smouldering rubble.

The nine-storey flats housing hundreds of people were struck just before the break of dawn.

FRIGHTENED

One missile hit with such force the building all but folded in half. Vladimir Putin's forces began their blitz of Ternopil and neighbouring Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk at around 2am. At least 48 missiles were fired and almost 10 times as many drones, with even the distant eastern city of Kharkiv reporting at least 30 injured people.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down 41 of the X-101 cruise missiles. It also took out 446 of 476 drones.