'Absolutely evil': Zelensky condemns Russian strike that killed 17 people

An overnight Russian missile strike killed at least 12 people in Zaporizhzhia, authorities said on Sunday, in the latest deadly attack to hit the southern Ukrainian city that President Volodymyr Zelensky called "absolute evil".

The reports came a day after a key bridge linking Russia with the annexed Crimea peninsula was partially destroyed by an explosion, and as the Kremlin replaced its top general amid major battlefield setbacks in Ukraine.

Zelensky said 12 people had died and 49 people, including six children, were in hospital after Russian missiles again hit Zaporizhzhia.

City council secretary Anatoliy Kurtev, provided a higher death toll of 17.

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At least 17 people including a child also died when seven Russian missiles hit the centre of the industrial city earlier this week.

Regional official Oleksandr Starukh posted pictures of heavily damaged apartment blocks on Telegram and said a rescue operation had been launched to find victims under the rubble.

Zelensky denounced the "merciless strikes on peaceful people" and residential buildings as "absolute evil" perpetrated by "savages and terrorists".

Divers were to inspect the waters beneath the giant Crimea bridge Sunday a day after a truck bomb ignited a massive fire on the road and rail link, killing three people.

"We are ordering the examination by divers, they will start work from six in the morning," Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin announced.

"First results" of Russia's inspection of the bridge were due Sunday, he added.

Russia on Saturday said traffic had resumed over the strategic link symbolising the Kremlin's 2014 annexation of Crimea.

The 19-kilometre (12-mile) bridge was attacked at dawn, sparking celebrations from Ukrainians and others on social media, where dramatic footage showed it burning with a road section plunging into the water.

But Zelensky did not directly mention it in his nightly address and officials made no claim of responsibility.

Following the blast, the bodies of an unidentified man and a woman were pulled out of the water, likely passengers in a car driving near the exploded truck, Moscow said.

Authorities had identified the owner of the truck as a resident of Russia's southern Krasnodar region, saying his home was being searched.