Ukraine says ready for long-awaited counter-offensive, explosions reported in multiple places in Russia | War Ukraine and Russia

Danilov told the BBC that the Ukrainian government cannot afford any mistakes in its decision to launch a counter-offensive because it is a “historic opportunity” that “we must not miss”. Oleksiy Danilov is not just any old man. He is secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine and is thus part of the war cabinet of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

According to Danilov, the offensive will start when the Ukrainian army top thinks it can “get the best result”. He denied to the BBC that the counter-offensive has already started.

On Saturday morning, several Russian positions were again bombarded, including drone attacks. For example, according to the newspaper ‘Pravda’, explosions were heard near the occupied city of Berdiansk in southern Ukraine. Several explosions were heard, both in the center and in the port. Images of a plume of smoke emerge.

In the Bryansk region, according to the Russian newspaper ‘Gazeta’, two people were killed when a car belonging to the Defense Ministry was attacked by a drone. Other Russian media reports that Ukrainian fighters have tried to take the villages of Susany and Brochnichi in that region. According to local media and bloggers, shots can be heard in the streets and residents are hiding in the cellars of their houses. Those messages have not been independently verified.

In Belgorod, a town near the border with Ukraine, an explosive device exploded at a government building, according to the same newspaper. This was reported by the governor of Belgorod.

And in Pskov, a region in western Russia a few tens of kilometers from the Estonian border, the administrative building at an oil pipeline of the state-owned Transneft was damaged this morning by an attack with two drones, according to Governor Mikhail Vedernikov. That writes ‘Novaya Gazeta’. There were no injuries in the attack, the governor reports on Telegram.

According to the Russian newspaper ‘Kommersant’, an administrative building near an oil pipeline was also attacked by two drones in Andreopol in the Tver region. There were two explosions, after which a fire was extinguished by the personnel.

LOOK. It continues to rumble in the Russian border region with Ukraine

The Russian mercenary group Wagner may have started withdrawing its troops from certain positions in Bachmut. That is what the British intelligence services say on Saturday. Wagner’s boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had already announced on Thursday that he would withdraw his troops from the captured eastern Ukrainian city and Kiev also confirmed on Friday that a troop change was underway. The Wagner mercenaries in the outskirts of Bachmut would be replaced by regular Russian soldiers.

According to the British, pro-Russian troops from the self-declared People’s Republic of Donetsk Bachmut entered on Wednesday. “The exchange with Wagner troops will probably continue in a controlled manner,” it says. Prigozhin had said that Russian forces should have full control of Bachmut by June 1.

Despite Prigozhin’s ongoing conflict with the Russian defense ministry, London said Moscow will continue to call on Wagner for new offensive operations in the Donbas.

LOOK. Wagner boss: “We are withdrawing from Bachmoet”