Volodymyr Zelensky: Russia's assault on the Donbas has turned it into hell

The battle for Donbas has turned the eastern region into "hell", Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine’s president, has said, as Moscow intensified its attacks on the industrial heartland.

In his overnight address, Mr Zelensky accused Russia of "completely destroying" the Donbas region and deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilians.

"In Donbas, the occupiers are trying to increase pressure," he said from Kyiv. "There's hell, and that's not an exaggeration."

He added: "Donbas is completely destroyed - all this doesn’t and cannot have any military explanation for Russia."

The Ukrainian military on Friday morning reported Russian artillery and missile strikes on civilian targets in Lyman, the Donetsk region, as well as Dovgenke and Velyka Komyshuvakha in the Kharkiv oblast, and Dolyna, in western Ukraine.

"This is a deliberate and criminal attempt to kill as many Ukrainians as possible. Destroy as many houses, social facilities and enterprises as possible," Mr Zelensky said.

He branded an attack on Severodonetsk, a town in the Donbas region, "brutal and completely senseless" after 12 people died and dozens more were wounded on "a single day" on Thursday.

Serhiy Gaidai, the regional governor of Luhansk, said on Friday that 13 civilians had been killed by Russian shelling over the past 24 hours in the province.

Russia’s offensive in the east has lasted a month since it dropped plans for a wider invasion of Ukraine after failing to take the capital Kyiv.

The Kremlin’s forces have made little progress in capturing land held by Ukrainian resistance fighters, according to Western intelligence reports.

But the Ukrainian military has warned that Vladimir Putin’s troops are intensifying their efforts in the eastern region.

"Russian enemy intensified offensive and assault operations to improve the tactical situation," Ukraine’s general staff said on Friday.

"It inflicted fire damage from mortars, artillery, multiple rocket launchers and operational and tactical aircraft in order to destroy the fortifications of our units along the entire line of contact."

Britain's Ministry of Defence warned that Russia would likely send reinforcements into the Donbas from Mariupol, where a two-month siege ended earlier this week with the surrender of Ukrainian troops.

As many as 1,700 Ukrainian fighters are likely to have surrendered from the Azovstal steelworks, which was the final stronghold of resistance in the Black Sea port city, the MoD added.

"Once Russia has secured Mariupol, it is likely they will move their forces to reinforce operations in the Donbas," it said in its latest briefing.

But it also warned that rapid Russian re-deployment could only turn the war in the east into a battle of attrition.

"Staunch Ukrainian resistance in Mariupol since the start of the war means Russian forces in the area must be re-equipped and refurbished before they can be redeployed effectively. This can be a lengthy process when done thoroughly," the MoD said.

"Russian commanders, however, are under pressure to demonstrably achieve operational objectives. This means that Russia will probably redistribute their forces swiftly without adequate preparation, which risks further force attrition."

Elsewhere, the Russian-installed collaborator leader in Kherson, in southern Ukraine, has said the region will soon be integrated into Russia.

In a post on the Telegram messaging app, Volodymyr Saldo said there would soon be a "Kherson region of the Russian Federation".

Kirill Stremousov, his deputy, said residents would soon be able to apply for Russian citizenship.