Russian attack kills at least 17 as Ukraine's counterattack nears

KYIV, Ukraine — Kyiv said it was nearly ready to launch a huge ground assault to retake occupied land, after Russia hurled missiles at cities as people slept overnight, killing at least 17 people in its first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months.

Air strikes

• The Russian Defense Ministry said its strategic bombers had carried out what it called high-precision missile strikes on Ukrainian army reserve units overnight to prevent them from getting to the frontline.
• In the central city of Uman, firefighters battled a raging blaze at a residential apartment building that had been struck on an upper floor. At least 15 people were killed in Uman, including two children, and nine people were taken to hospital, the regional governor said.
• Serhii Lubivskyi looked up with tears in his eyes at the empty space where his neighbors' flats stood before the Russian missile strike reduced them to rubble. "No one is left," Lubivskyi, 58, said in Uman.
• In the southeastern city of Dnipro, a missile struck a house, killing a two-year-old child and a 31-year-old woman, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said. Three people were also wounded in the attack.
• The capital Kyiv was also rocked by explosions, with officials reporting that air defense units had destroyed 11 missiles and two drones.

Russia

• Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defense minister, according to a military blogger and a leading news website.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law allowing for naturalized Russian citizens who "threaten national security" to be stripped of their citizenship, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.
• The Kremlin played down the idea that Russia might be preparing to carry out a nuclear weapons test, saying all nuclear states were abiding by a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.
• Russia this week took control of the Russian assets of Finland's Fortum FORTUM.HE and Germany's Uniper UN01.DE, which both operate power plants in Russia, and warned it could seize more.

Counteroffensive

• Ukraine is wrapping up preparations for a counteroffensive against Russian forces and is largely ready for it to go ahead, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said.
• The Ukrainian military said it had shot down 21 out of 23 cruise missiles fired by Russia.

Diplomacy

• A United Nations committee said it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions.
• EU governments agreed to extend by a year the suspension of duties and quotas on imports from Ukraine to help its economy during the war with Russia.

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