New Delhi, July 11 -- KYIV - Russian forces advanced to within 20 kilometres of Zaporizhzhia city, Ukraine's regional capital on the Dnipro River, as strikes on residential areas killed at least five people across the country's east and south on Thursday. The push represents one of the deepest positions Russian ground forces have held in Zaporizhzhia region since the early months of the operation.

In Zaporizhzhia city itself, a Russian strike killed one person and wounded sixteen others, destroying more than twelve houses and damaging apartment buildings across a civilian residential district. The city, home to roughly 700,000 people before the conflict began, has been under periodic bombardment throughout the operation but had not been ...