By Joshua Berlinger, Thom Poole, Tori B. Powell and Matt Meyer, CNN
From CNN's Darya Tarasova
Ukrainian mortar shelling killed a construction worker in the Russian border district of Sudzhansky, the regional governor claimed on Telegram Saturday.
The worker had been stationed near the village of Plekhovo, where crews were fortifying the defensive line along the state border, according to Roman Starovoyt, the Kursk region governor.
Plekhovo is less than two miles from the Ukrainian border, in western Russia.
From CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Vasco Cotovio and Fred Pleitgen
Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, has added to speculation that a long-expected massive counteroffensive by Kyiv against Russia’s occupying forces could be imminent.
“The time has come to take back what is ours,” Zaluzhnyi wrote Saturday morning.
Zaluzhnyi's post comes after about a month of potential hints that a counteroffensive operation could be in the works, including an uptick in certain types of attacks and the deployment of military hardware.
Officially, however, the operation has not begun. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will have final say on when the operation is set to begin. But he may not even do that publicly, to keep Moscow off-balance.
"We are clearly aware of when, where, how and what should start,” Zelensky's national security adviser, Oleksiy Danilov, told CNN on Tuesday. “The final decision is up to the president ... when the decision is made, Russia will definitely feel it."
It is possible we only learn the counteroffensive has begun when its first tangible results are revealed. A lot of what is happening is not playing out in public, even if the plan is set in stone.
CNN's William Bonnett and Svitlana Vlasova contributed to this post.
From Olga Voitovych in Kyiv, Ukraine
Explosions were reported close to the Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk in southern Ukraine on Saturday, marking the second time in 48 hours the port city was hit.
Ukrainian official Viktor Dudukalov, the exiled deputy chairman of the Berdiansk District Council, told Ukrainian national television that facilities housing Russian soldiers in the village of Novopetrivka were hit. The targets were about 15 kilometers (9 miles) to the northeast of the city center.
Dudukalov suggested the hits could have been from “Storm Shadow” cruise missiles, which Britain said it had given to Ukraine several weeks ago. With the acquisition of those missiles, Kyiv's forces were given the ability to strike targets further into Russian-occupied territory.
Ukraine’s armed forces typically do not officially comment on types of weaponry used in particular strikes.
Some background: Russia captured Berdiansk in the first week of its full-scale invasion in February 2022 and then subsequently used it to land its warships. The port city had previously been hit by a missile strike in the early hours of Thursday, according to an official working for the Russian authorities who occupy the city.
From CNN staff
It is approaching 1 p.m. in Ukraine, where first responders have finished working to clear debris after a devastating Russian strike on the Ukrainian city of Dnipro yesterday.
From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Andrew Carey in Kyiv
In a short but surely carefully crafted post on the messaging app Telegram, the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces has ratcheted up speculation that a massive counteroffensive against Russia’s occupying forces could be imminent.
“The time has come to take back what is ours,” General Valerii Zaluzhnyi wrote Saturday morning.
The text appears underneath a video just over a minute in length showing Ukrainian forces apparently training at sunrise.
The video shows an array of Western-provided equipment, including German-made Leopard 2 tanks, seen as one of the key battlefield acquisitions by Ukraine in recent months, as well as US-made MRAP (Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected) armored vehicles, M777 artillery pieces and HIMARS rocket launchers.
The video ends with soldiers and their commander chanting a defiant message: “Ukraine, my native motherland, Lord, our heavenly father, bless our decisive offensive, our sacred revenge, our holy victory.”
Officially the counteroffensive is yet to begin. As we have previously reported, the different signals from Ukraine may be an attempt to keep Moscow off-balance.
From CNN's Olga Voitovych
Search and rescue operations at the site of a medical facility in the city of Dnipro that was struck by Russian forces have been completed, State Emergency Service of Ukraine said on Saturday.
Rescuers have finished clearing the rubble of the three-story building, the service said.
More than three dozen high-rise buildings and more than 20 private houses were damaged around the site of the Friday attack, Serhii Lysak, head of the regional military administration, said on the messaging app Telegram Saturday.
"There is damage to the stadium, and also in three schools and three kindergartens," Lysak said.
From CNN's Alex Stambaugh and Josh Pennington
One person was killed after Russian shelling of Ukrainian-held parts of Kherson, Oleksandr Prokudin, the head of the Kherson regional military administration, said on Saturday.
Prokudin claimed Russia had launched "45 attacks, firing 193 shells from mortars, artillery, Grad, tanks, UAVs and aircraft" on the region over the past day.
He said the shelling occurred in residential areas of the region's settlements, including a grain elevator in the Beryslav district.
From CNN’s Lauren Kent in London and Xiaofei Xu
The European Union is condemning the agreement between Moscow and Minsk to deploy Russian nuclear weapons in Belarus, calling it “a step which will lead to further extremely dangerous escalation,” the bloc said Friday.
“The Belarusian regime is an accomplice in Russia’s illegal and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine,” the European External Action Service said in a statement, calling on Belarus to “reverse decisions that can only contribute to heightening tensions in the region, and undermine Belarus’ sovereignty.”
“Any attempt to further escalate the situation will be met by a strong and coordinated reaction,” the European Union warned in the statement.
Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said Thursday that the transfer of some tactical nuclear weapons from Russia to Belarus has begun, according to state news agency Belta.
From CNN's Lauren Kent in London
There have been more than 900 attacks on health care in Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.
Of the 974 total attacks, 873 of them impacted medical facilities, WHO data shows. In total, strikes on health care in Ukraine have resulted in at least 101 deaths and 136 injuries since February 24, 2022.
Russia's attack on a medical facility in Dnipro city on Friday is not yet included in the WHO data or death toll, given that the organization's process for verifying attacks takes some time. The most recent attack on health care in Ukraine that is recorded by WHO occurred on May 7, 2023, and impacted a mobile clinic.
"WHO condemns all acts of violence against healthcare. These attacks not only kill and maim but also deprive people of urgently needed care, endanger healthcare providers, and undermine health systems," WHO spokesperson Dr. Margaret Harris said in a statement to CNN.
"Attacks on health care workers, patients, transport, supplies, and health facilities are a flagrant violation of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law and must stop now," Harris added. "We call for an immediate cessation of all activities that endanger the lives of health care workers and patients or impede delivery of essential health services."
