7-Year-Old Polish Girl Killed in Ternopil Attack, Tusk Says

A seven-year-old Polish girl named Amelia was killed in this week’s Russian strike on the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil, Polish officials said.

“Amelka was seven years old. Seven. A Polish child. She died in Ternopil during a brutal Russian missile attack,” Donald Tusk, the Polish Prime Minister, wrote on X.

“She will no longer fulfil any of her dreams. This cruel war must end, and Russia cannot win it. Because this is also a war about the future of our children.”

On Friday, search and rescue operations in Ternopil entered their third day, with 16 people still missing after a Russian attack on an apartment building killed at least 31 people, including six children, and injured 94 others.

The strike hit two high-rise buildings, destroying several upper floors of one and sending fire sweeping through dozens of apartments spanning the entire building in the other.

The spokesman for Poland’s Foreign Ministry, Maciej Wewiór, also said on Friday afternoon that a Polish child had been “murdered” by Russia.

“On the night of November 18 to 19, Russia attacked civilians in Ternopil. Among the victims of this brutality is a 7-year-old Polish citizen – Amelka. She died at night with her mother.” 

Her mother, Oksana, was also killed in the attack.

Ternopil Secondary School No.27, where Amelia attended as a 2nd-grade student, said in a statement that Amelia and her mother had “burned alive, embracing each other” as flames swallowed their apartment.

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“Our entire school family mourns the irreparable loss: Amelia, a bright girl, a little Angel, will never again sit at her desk, hug her classmates, or warm them with her bright gaze,” the school wrote.

Ukrainians have been mourning the tragic attack, and on Nov. 20 during a nationwide minute of silence took to the streets to commemorate the dead. Fields of candles, flowers and teddy bears were left at a makeshift memorial for the victims.