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Ukrainian official hints counteroffensive coming ‘soon’ 

A Ukrainian police officer guards a fragment of the rocket after a Russian rocket attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, May 29, 2023. Explosions have rattled Kyiv during daylight as Russian ballistic missiles fell on the Ukrainian capital. The barrage came hours after a more common nighttime attack of the city by drones and cruise missiles. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

(The Hill) – A Ukrainian official has indicated the country’s expected counteroffensive is coming “soon” as Russian missiles hit Ukraine overnight and in a rarer daylight attack Monday. 

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that “the time will soon come when we will move to active offensive actions,” according to translations of a Telegram post, and “defined specific tasks” for military preparations. 


Officials appear to be hinting that Ukraine may be nearing go-time on its long-anticipated counteroffensive. 

“It’s time to get back what’s ours,” Ukraine’s chief military officer, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said in a Telegram post on Saturday. 

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in early May that his country’s military needed more time to prepare for a counteroffensive, arguing that it would be “unacceptable” to start such a move at the time. 

Russia continued to hit Kyiv with missile attacks overnight over the weekend, but the Ukrainian capital also saw a daylight onslaught of attacks on Monday. 

Kyiv’s mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram that at least one person died in the city on Saturday, and at least one person was injured Monday. 

The Associated Press contributed.