Twelve people were killed today in east Ukraine fighting between soldiers and pro-Russian separatists, including four civilians killed when a hospital in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk was bombed.

According to an AFP correspondent, a body lay under a blanket in front of a hospital in a western Donetsk suburb, and two more dead civilians could be seen lying outside a nearby residential building.

Another person was killed inside the hospital, which had its windows blown out by the attack, according to rebel emergency services.

Separatist and Kiev authorities had previously stated that four civilians and four Ukrainian soldiers had been killed in the previous 24 hours.

“In the Donetsk region, Avdiivka was fired on by artillery and aircraft, the city was razed to the ground. Five civilians were killed and 19 were injured,” Ukraine’s ombudswoman, Lyudmyla Denisova, said in a statement.