Russian strikes kill three in Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine: Russian shelling on Friday killed three people in two separate incidents in the Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Zaporizhzhia, local authorities said.

In the east of the country, Russian shelling killed two civilians in the last major city under Ukrainian control in the Donetsk region. "New attack on Kramatorsk... two civilians dead and 13 wounded," regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said on Facebook, calling for remaining residents to evacuate.

"The bombardment has damaged at least 20 buildings and a fire has broken out."

In the southeast, Russian shelling on Zaporizhzhia killed one woman and wounded two others, local official Anatoli Kurtev said.

Thousands of people have been killed and millions displaced from their homes since Russia invaded its pro-Western neighbour in late February.

Since withdrawing its troops from areas around the capital Kyiv in late March, Russia has focused its attention on the east and south of the country.

But Ukrainian forces in recent weeks have been clawing back territory in the southern Kherson region, which borders the Crimea peninsula that Russia annexed in 2014.

Russian forces seized the provincial capital of the same name on March 3, the first major city to fall to Moscow since the start of the invasion on February 24.

An official in the region, Sergi Khlan, said on Facebook that the last bridge being used by Russian forces to transport military equipment had been "destroyed".

The Ukrainian defence ministry on Friday evening said Russia had achieved "partial successes" in the Bakhmut area, on the road towards Kramatorsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has ordered the mandatory evacuation of the Donetsk region.