Russian shelling in east Ukraine kills at least 15

A Russian missile struck an apartment building in eastern Ukraine Sunday, killing at least 15 people as Moscow's forces sought to consolidate their control over the Donbas region. 

"During the rescue operation, 15 bodies were found at the scene and five people were pulled out of the rubble" alive in the town of Chasiv Yar, the local emergency service said on Facebook.

"At least 30 others are under the rubble" of the four-storey building after it was hit by a Russian Uragan missile, Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said earlier on Telegram.

Rescuers had so far been able to establish contact with three people under the rubble, emergency services said.

Having fought long battles to capture the last areas of the neighbouring region of Lugansk, Russian troops are now turning their focus to Donetsk as they look to take control of the whole Donbas region.

"The only thing that saved me was when I ran here, because immediately afterwards all of this crashed down."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had condemned what he said was Russia's deliberate shelling of civilian targets.

"In just one day, Russia hit Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kryvyi Rih, the communities of the Zaporizhzhia region," Zelensky said. 

Russian strikes "absolutely deliberately" and "purposefully" targeted the residential sector, hitting "ordinary houses, civilian objects, people", he said.