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Ukraines forces are concluding their preparations for a long-expected spring counteroffensive against invading Russian troops, the countrys defence minister has said, and are, broadly speaking, ready. Oleksii Reznikov told an online briefing on Friday: As soon as there is Gods will, the weather and a decision by commanders, we will do it. He gave no date for when the counteroffensive would start but said: Globally speaking, we are to a high percentage ready. Kyiv has been preparing a counterattack for several months aimed at repelling Russian forces from the east and south.

Russia on Friday launched a wave of missile attacks across many of Ukraines biggest cities, killing a mother and young child in the port city of Dnipro, and 14 people at a high-rise apartment building in the central city of Uman. Air raid alarms were active across the country in the early hours of Friday morning, while explosions were heard in Kyiv, and southern Mykolaiv was targeted again.

The New York Times has reported that Amnesty International has been sitting on an independent review criticising its controversial allegation that Ukrainian forces were illegally endangering civilians. Amnestys accusation that Ukrainian troops were illegally putting civilians in harms way by basing themselves nearby and launching attacks from populated areas caused widespread anger when it was published last August. Russia claimed it as vindication but critics including the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was poorly researched, ignored wartime realities and drew a moral equivalence between Russia, the aggressor, and Ukraine, the victim.

Reports are emerging that the Russian colonel general Mikhail Mizintsev, known as the butcher of Mariupol, has been removed as deputy defence minister in charge of logistics and supplies. Reuters cites a military blogger, Alexander Sladkov, and the news website RBC as saying Mizintsev, who orchestrated the siege of the devastated city of Mariupol last year, was no longer in the role he was appointed to last September.

The Kremlin has said Russian military units that have fought in Ukraine will be represented in a parade in Moscow on 9 May to mark the anniversary of the Soviet victory in the second world war, Reuters reports. The holiday is one of the most important in the Russian calendar, usually featuring a huge show of military hardware on Red Square and a speech from President Vladimir Putin.

At least seven civilians were killed and 33 injured between Wednesday and Thursday, Ukraines presidential office said, including one person killed and 23 wounded when four Kalibr cruise missiles hit the southern city of Mykolaiv.

The parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe has voted that the forced detention and deportation of children from Russian occupied territories of Ukraine is genocide.

Russia said its patience should not be tested over nuclear weapons in another repeat of hardline rhetoric. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that Russia will do everything to prevent the development of events according to the worst scenario but not at the cost of infringing on our vital interests.

The Biden administration is sanctioning Russias Federal Security Service for wrongfully detaining Americans. The sanctions are largely symbolic, since the organisation is already under sweeping existing sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine.

See more here:
Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 429 of the invasion - The Guardian