Ukraine war: Kyiv 'liberates' more villages in Kherson as Russia's annexation map shrinks
Ukraine says its army has recaptured more settlements in Kherson, one of the four Russian-occupied regions annexed by the Kremlin.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the villages of Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka to the northeast of Kherson city had been "liberated".
It came after Russian president Vladimir Putin signed constitutional decrees on Wednesday to formally annex the four Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Thousands of Russian troops have retreated from front lines in the south and east since September following Ukraine's military counter-offensive.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy spoke briefly in Russian to address pro-Kremlin forces, telling them they had already lost the war.
"Ukrainians know what they are fighting for. And more and more citizens of Russia are realizing that they must die simply because one person does not want to end the war," he said in a reference to Putin.
Moscow's map of Ukraine appears to show shrinking areas it controls.
A map of "new regions" published by state news agency RIA included the full territory of the Ukrainian provinces but some parts were labelled as being under Ukrainian military control.
Overnight, seven Russian missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia, damaging several buildings and causing injuries, regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said.
Russia's president said troops will "stabilise" the situation in the four annexed Ukrainian regions.
"We proceed from the fact that the situation will be stabilised, we will be able to calmly develop these territories," Putin said.
Putin signed a decree on Wednesday to annex the regions. The new law would incorporate about 18% of Ukraine's territory into Russia.
Russia's move to annex the
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