Ukraine announced on Friday that it is nearly prepared to initiate a significant ground offensive to reclaim occupied territory, following Russia's first large-scale air strikes in almost two months, which killed at least 17 people.
The conflict is approaching a critical point after a Russian winter offensive that saw minimal territorial gains despite intense fighting. Ukraine is organizing a counterattack utilizing hundreds of Western-supplied tanks and armored vehicles, with the goal of expelling Russia from the nearly one-fifth of the country it occupies and claims to have annexed.
Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleskii Reznikov stated in an online news briefing that the country is "to a high percentage ready" to begin its campaign, adding that its new, modern weapons will serve as an "iron fist." In the central town of Uman, at least 15 people were killed, including two children, when a residential apartment building was struck by a Russian missile.
The overnight Russian missile attacks mark the first since early March. Although such attacks were frequent throughout the winter, they subsided as spring approached, with Western countries asserting that Moscow was running out of missiles.
Missile strikes were also reported in the southeastern city of Dnipro, the capital Kyiv, the central cities of Kremenchuk and Poltava, and Mykolaiv in the south. The Ukrainian military claims it shot down 21 of the 23 cruise missiles fired by Russia. Moscow maintains it does not intentionally target civilians. However, Kyiv argues that strikes on cities far from the front lines have no military purpose other than to intimidate and harm civilians, constituting a war crime.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stated, "This Russian terror must face a fair response from Ukraine and the world. And it will." Near the front in Donetsk, a Russian-installed official reported that seven people were killed by Ukrainian shelling that hit a minibus. This information could not be independently verified.
Ukraine has spent months fortifying its territory in anticipation of Kyiv's planned assault, which is widely expected once warmer weather dries out the country's notorious black mud. Despite heavy ground combat, Russia has captured little additional territory during its winter campaign, mainly focusing on the small mining city of Bakhmut.
Kyiv and its Western military allies hope that a push by thousands of Ukrainian troops trained at Western bases, using hundreds of newly donated tanks and armored vehicles, will alter the dynamics of the war. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this week that Kyiv's foreign allies and partners had delivered almost all their promised combat vehicles.
