SNAPSHOT-Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Russian attack kills at least 17 as Ukraine's counterattack nears

"No one is left," Lubivskyi, 58, said in the central Ukrainian city of Uman. RUSSIA * Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defence minister, according to a military blogger and a leading news website. * Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law allowing for naturalised Russian citizens who "threaten national security" to be stripped of their citizenship, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported.

Kyiv said it was nearly ready to launch a huge ground assault to retake occupied land, after Russia hurled missiles at cities as people slept overnight, killing at least 17 people in its first large-scale air strikes in nearly two months. AIR STRIKES

* The Russian Defence Ministry said its strategic bombers had carried out what it called high-precision missile strikes on Ukrainian army reserve units overnight to prevent them from getting to the frontline. * Serhii Lubivskyi looked up with tears in his eyes at the empty space where his neighbours' flats stood before a Russian missile strike reduced them to rubble. "No one is left," Lubivskyi, 58, said in the central Ukrainian city of Uman.

RUSSIA * Russian Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev, who was sanctioned by the West and dubbed the "Butcher of Mariupol" for his role in the Ukraine war, has been removed as deputy defence minister, according to a military blogger and a leading news website.

* Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a law allowing for naturalised Russian citizens who "threaten national security" to be stripped of their citizenship, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported. * The Kremlin played down the idea that Russia might be preparing to carry out a nuclear weapons test, saying all nuclear states were abiding by a moratorium on the testing of nuclear weapons.

* Russia this week took control of the Russian assets of Finland's Fortum FORTUM.HE and Germany's Uniper UN01.DE, which both operate power plants in Russia, and warned it could seize more. COUNTER-OFFENSIVE

* Ukraine is wrapping up preparations for a counteroffensive against Russian forces and is largely ready for it to go ahead, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said. DIPLOMACY

* A United Nations committee said it was deeply concerned about human rights violations by Russian forces and private military companies in Ukraine, including enforced disappearances, torture, rape and extrajudicial executions. * EU governments agreed to extend by a year the suspension of duties and quotas on imports from Ukraine to help its economy during the war with Russia.

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