Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov said that the country is ready to launch a long-expected counter-offensive against Russian forces, as reported by BBC. This comes after a Russian missile strike on a clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro on Friday killed at least one person and wounded 15 others. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the attack and said authorities were working to rescue others from the hospital.
Taking to the Telegram messaging app, Zelensky wrote, "A rocket attack on a clinic in the city of Dnipro. As of now, one person was killed and 15 were wounded".
Speaking to BBC, Danilov said that the assault to retake territory from Russian President Vladimir Putin's occupying forces could begin "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week". As secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Danilov is an integral part of President Volodymyr Zelensky's de facto war cabinet.
Danilov also told BBC that some forces of Russia's Wagner mercenary group were withdrawing from the city of Bakhmut. He also said the armed forces would start the assault when commanders calculated "we can have the best result at that point of the war," as quoted by BBC.
On being questioned about whether Ukrainian armed forces were ready for the offensive, he said, "We are always ready. The same as we were ready to defend our country at any time. And it is not a question of time,” as quoted by BBC.
"We have to understand that historic opportunity that is given to us - by God - to our country, we cannot lose, so we can truly become an independent, big European country," he also said. He added: "It could happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in a week."
However, Danilov did not reveal the date. "It would be weird if I were to name dates of the start of that or those events. That cannot be done…. We have a very responsible task before our country. And we understand that we have no right to make a mistake," he told BBC. Danilov was "absolutely calm" about Russia starting to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus. He said, "To us, it's not some kind of news," as quoted by BBC.
Earlier on Friday, Ukrainian officials claimed that they had shot down 10 missiles and more than 30 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on Dnipro and the eastern city of Kharkiv. Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, was also targeted and officials said fragments of intercepted drones fell on the roof of a shopping centre, while a house and several cars were damaged, reported BBC.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine 15 months ago has stepped up attacks on Ukraine in recent weeks, targeting its infrastructure facilities ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive.