Ukraine Recap: Security Official Says Offensive ‘Ready to Begin’

Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelenskiy had a regular meeting with his top commanders on Friday. Later, army commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, posted a video on Telegram proclaiming that “the time has come to reclaim what is ours.” The bid to retake occupied territory in the nation’s east and southeast is “ready to begin” and could start “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, told the BBC.

(Bloomberg) — Ukraine President Voldymyr Zelenskiy had a regular meeting with his top commanders on Friday. Later, army commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, posted a video on Telegram proclaiming that “the time has come to reclaim what is ours.” The bid to retake occupied territory in the nation’s east and southeast is “ready to begin” and could start “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week,” said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, told the BBC. 

The toll continued to rise from Russia’s strike on Friday against a hospital, a vet clinic and surrounding areas in Ukraine’s central city of Dnipro, far from the conflict’s front lines. At least two people were killed, 30 injured, including young children, and three more unaccounted for. Zelenskiy called the attack “a pure atrocity.”  

Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed Russia is planning “large scale provocations” around the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of disrupting a planned staff rotation of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission at the facility on Friday. 

 

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Coming Up 

  • NATO foreign ministers meet in Oslo from Wednesday 
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Markets 

Oil rose Friday and posted a modest weekly gain. Supply dynamics remain in focus, with Saudi Arabia and Russia having offered conflicting statements this week on the potential for more production cuts from OPEC and its allies. 

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