Nine civilians killed by shelling in Ukraine's Donetsk region, local governor says

KYIV, May 3 (Reuters) - At least nine civilians were killed by Russian fire in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, the regional governor said.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on the Telegram messaging app that at least three civilians had been killed during an aerial bombardment of the town of Avdiivka.

Three more were killed by shelling of the city of Vuhledar and three were killed in shelling of the town of Lyman, he wrote.

The Ukrainian president's office said earlier on Tuesday that other areas of Donetsk were under constant fire and regional authorities were trying to evacuate civilians from frontline zones. read more

Reuters could not independently verify Ukraine's battlefield accounts. Russia has denied targeting civilians.

Russia launched a new offensive in eastern Ukraine focused on the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after abandoning an assault on the capital Kyiv at the end of March. Parts of the two regions were already held by Russian-backed separatists before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

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