Ukrainian forces are stepping up counteroffensives to retake Russian-controlled areas in defiance of Moscow's continued missile attacks. Meanwhile, a senior Russian lawmaker has criticized his country's defense ministry.

The governor of the southeastern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhzhia said on Thursday a Russian missile attack struck apartment buildings in the city of the same name. Local media say three people were killed and 12 others wounded.

Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, Donetsk and Kherson are the four regions in Ukraine's east and south that Moscow says it has annexed. Ukrainian forces are now trying to recapture Russian-occupied areas in Luhansk, Kherson and elsewhere.

Senior Russian figures are now criticizing their country's defense ministry and military.

The head of the national defense committee of the lower house of Russian parliament, Andrei Kartapolov, told a state-run TV channel on Wednesday that the ministry should stop lying in its briefings on the special military operation in Ukraine. He said the practice would undermine the military's credibility.

A close aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin also criticized the military last Saturday after the defense ministry said it was pulling troops out of Lyman, a strategically important place in eastern Ukraine, due to the threat of encirclement.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US think tank, said that increasing domestic critiques of Russia's partial mobilization are likely driving Putin to "scapegoat" the ministry and in particular defense minister Sergei Shoigu.