The Russia-Ukraine war continues

Fighting in Ukraine has been concentrated in the south and east since Russia abandoned attempts to seize Kyiv.

Ukraine's presidency said shelling continued throughout Lugansk -- part of the Donbas region where Ukrainian forces are fiercely opposing Russian armour and Kremlin-backed separatists.

Russian troops are trying to take complete control of Rubizhne, block a key highway between Lysychansk and Bakhmut and seize Severodonetsk, the office said.

Zelensky said Thursday in his daily address to the nation that Russian forces have destroyed 570 health care facilities in the country, including 101 hospitals.

"What for? It's nonsense. It's barbarity," he said.

In the northeastern region of Chernigiv three people were killed and 12 others wounded early Thursday in a strike on a school in Novgorod-Siversky, the emergency services said. 

In the southern port city of Mariupol, besieged troops in the vast Azovstal steel works have been holding out against weeks-long bombardment, refusing demands to surrender.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said "difficult talks" were underway over the evacuation of 38 seriously wounded troops.

Russia's army said it struck Donetsk and Kharkiv on Thursday, killing more than 170 people and destroying Ukrainian drones and rockets.

The International Criminal Court in The Hague has already begun its own inquiry, sending investigators to the Kyiv suburb of Bucha.

The invasion has sparked an exodus of civilians, many of whom describe torture, sexual violence and indiscriminate destruction.