At least 17 killed in Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia

At least 17 people have been killed and 40 others injured after the rocket struck Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia area on Saturday.

Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatoly Kurtev said that in the attack, five houses were destroyed and apartment buildings were damaged, CNN reported.

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, while addressing the nation on Saturday said that a fierce battle is taking place around the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region.

"We are holding positions in Donbas, in particular in the Bakhmut direction, where now it is very, very hard, very tough fighting," Zelensky said as quoted by CNN.

"Today, I would like to once again mention our soldiers from the Kholodny Yar 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade for their courage and sustained power in this direction."

Zaporizhzhia is a major city in southern Ukraine, not far from the front line, and the site of a nuclear power plant that the international community is watching warily, according to CNN.

Part of the wider region is occupied by Russian forces.

Notably, the war between Moscow and Kyiv intensifies after Russia announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine - Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

The war between Russia and Ukraine appears to be entering a new phase after Kyiv dealt a big blow to Moscow's grip after it recaptured 2,400 square kilometres of territory in the Kherson region in the south of the country "since the beginning of the full-scale war," a senior Ukrainian official said Friday, reported CNN.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office said six settlements had been liberated in the Kherson district as well as 61 in the Beryslav district.

Tymoshenko said the evacuation of civilians continued amid massive destruction to critical infrastructure in towns like Arkhanhelske, Vysokopillia and Osokorivka, all of which saw weeks of heavy fighting and indirect fire. Demining is in progress, he added.

Ukrainian forces have been making steady progress in Kherson since beginning an offensive at the end of last month, and their successes have sparked rare criticism of Moscow's war effort among pro-Russian figures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised his forces' counteroffensive in his evening address on Tuesday.

"The Ukrainian army is making a rather fast and powerful advance in the south of our country in the course of the ongoing defensive operation," Zelenskyy said in his evening address.

"Our warriors do not stop. And it is only a matter of time before we will expel the occupier from all our land."