At least 12 killed in Russian shelling of Severodonetsk - governor

Russian shelling of the eastern Ukraine city of Severodonetsk left at least 12 people dead and another 40 hurt, the region's governor said Thursday, as Moscow's army continued its slow push into Donbas.

The Lugansk regional governor Sergiy Gaiday said on social media that there were "12 dead and more than 40 injured in Severodonetsk," accusing Russian forces of "randomly" shelling the urban hub with heavy weapons.

Gaiday said that the attacks had begun early in the day Thursday and were continuing into the evening.

"Information about the number of dead and injured is still being determined because it is impossible to examine the territory under shelling," he said.

Severodonetsk, with a pre-war population of just over 100,000 people, is a key goal of the Russian military which has made capturing the eastern Donbas region a key objective.

The eastern industrial centre and its sister city Lysychansk make up the last pocket of Ukrainian resistance in the smaller of the two regions comprising the Donbas war zone.