Kramatorsk and Sloviansk are expected to be the next targets of Russia’s invading force, after Ukraine withdrew from Lysychansk, its last access point to the Luhansk region on Sunday.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region, said six buildings, including a hotel and an apartment block, were damaged during the strike in Kramatorsk and warned that the initial death toll could rise.
“This is a deliberate attack on civilians. This will continue until we expel them,” he said.
Sloviansk was also attacked. Vadym Lyakh, its mayor, said there had been casualties but gave no further details.
At least three people were killed and five injured in a multiple rocket attack in the city of Kharkiv, said Oleh Syniehubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration.
It came when Ukrainian forces landed and raised the national flag on Snake Island, the rock in the western Black Sea that Russia abandoned last week.
Images released by Ukraine on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a piece of land next to the remains of a flattened building.