Russia-Ukraine war live: Kyiv says forces ready to launch counteroffensive | Ukraine

Ukraine is ready to launch its much-anticipated counteroffensive against Russian forces, a senior Ukrainian official has told the BBC.

The broadcaster reported that Oleksiy Danilov would not name a date but said an assault to retake territory from President Vladimir Putin’s occupying forces could begin “tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week”.

He said Kyiv had “no right to make a mistake” on the decision because it was an “historic opportunity” that “we cannot lose”.

As secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, Danilov is at the heart of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s de facto war cabinet.

Danilov also told the BBC he was “absolutely calm” about Russia beginning to deploy nuclear weapons to Belarus, saying: “To us, it’s not some kind of news.”

The Wagner mercenary group’s forces have probably begun to withdraw from some of their positions around the devastated Ukrainian city of Bakhmut and are likely to be used for other offensive operations in the Donbas region, according to British intelligence.

The UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update that Wagner’s owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, had said the withdrawal had begun and positions were being transferred to Russian defence ministry forces. Kyiv corroborated Wagner’s rotation out from the city’s outskirts.

The UK ministry said in its update, posted on Twitter, that forces of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic had probably entered the eastern Ukrainian city since Wednesday to start “clearance operations”.

Bakhmut has been the scene of the war’s longest and bloodiest battle.

The ministry said:

Ukrainian forces had taken 20 square kilometres of Bakhmut’s flanks as of 16 May. The rotation out of Wagner forces is likely to continue in controlled phases to prevent collapse in pockets around Bakhmut.

Despite Prigozhin’s ongoing feud with the Russian MOD [ministry of defence], Wagner forces will likely be used for further offensive operations in the Donbas following reconstituting its forces.

US president Joe Biden has said he had an “extremely negative” reaction to reports that Russia has moved ahead with its plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, while the European Union has condemned the plan.

Reuters reports that the EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said:

This is a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation.

Russia signed a pact with Belarus on Thursday about the storage of the warheads, at a facility due to be finished in just over a month. The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, said later that the relocation of some of the weapons had already begun.

Borrell said the agreement contravened multiple international agreements.

We call on Russia to abide by these commitments. The Belarusian regime is an accomplice in Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

Borrell said any attempt “to further escalate the situation will be met by a strong and coordinated reaction”.

Welcome back to our live coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s an overview of the latest.

The European Union has condemned Russia’s plan to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in neighbouring Belarus, while US president Joe Biden says he had an “extremely negative” reaction to reports that Russia has already begun moving ahead with the plan.

More on that story soon. In other news:

• The death toll from a Russian missile attack on an outpatient clinic in the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has risen to two, with 30 people wounded, according to media reports. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: “Russian terrorists once again confirm their status of fighters against everything humane and honest.”

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, plans to visit Finland, Sweden and Norway from this Monday to deepen cooperation on top national security and economic issues, the US state department has said. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland has joined Nato, with Sweden’s bid to join awaiting ratification from Hungary and Turkey.

• A deal allowing the safe export of grain and fertiliser from Ukrainian Black Sea ports has not yet resumed full operations, the UN said on Friday, having come to a halt before Russia’s decision last week to extend it.

• Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has told China’s special envoy Li Hui there are “serious obstacles” to resuming peace talks, blaming Ukraine and western countries. Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy security council chair, Dmitry Medvedev, has said the conflict in Ukraine could last for decades and negotiations with Ukraine were impossible as long as Volodymyr Zelenskiy was in power.

• The former UK prime minister Boris Johnson and former US president Donald Trump discussed Ukraine and “the vital importance of Ukrainian victory” on Thursday, a spokesperson for Johnson said.

• The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has said in a phone call with his Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, that Russia is open to dialogue over Ukraine. Lula tweeted that he had reiterated Brazil’s willingness to talk to both sides of the war in Ukraine but declined Putin’s invitation to visit.

• Russia has blamed Kyiv for dozens of strikes on its southern Belgorod region. Its governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said the Ukrainian military was responsible for artillery, mortar and drone attacks across the region over 24 hours but reported no casualties. In a rare attack on the southern Russian city of Krasnodar, east of Crimea, two drones damaged buildings in the city centre, officials said. In the neighbouring Rostov region, the governor said a Ukrainian missile had been shot down near Morozovsk, where there is a Russian airbase.

• Canada will donate 43 AIM-9 missiles to Ukraine to help the country “secure its skies”, the national defence has said. “Canada’s support for Ukraine is unwavering,” said Canada’s defence minister, Anita Anand. The country also said it welcomed Ukraine’s application to join the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership (CPTPP).

• Moscow’s city court will hold a preliminary hearing next Wednesday in a new criminal case against the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on charges including incitement to extremism.

• The Russian arms company Kalashnikov, maker of the world’s most widely used assault rifle, is launching a division for the production of kamikaze drones – a key weapon used in the Ukraine war.

• Ukraine said it shot down 10 missiles and 25 drones launched by Russia in overnight attacks on the capital of Kyiv, the city of Dnipro and eastern regions. Several drones and missiles hit targets in the Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions, officials said on Friday. There was no immediate word of any deaths.

• The city of Donetsk has come under fire from Ukrainian forces, the Russian-imposed leader of the occupied Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has said. As a result, he said, a young woman died and another was injured.

• Japan will place additional sanctions on Russia after the Group of Seven (G7) summit the country hosted last week agreed to step up measures to punish Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the chief cabinet secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, has said.