Image source, National Police of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS Image caption,

A Ukrainian police officer inspects damaged remains of a student centre in Lysychansk destroyed in Russian shelling

Ukrainian forces still holding out in the eastern city of Severodonetsk are outnumbered by Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Both sides fought for the city in street-by-street battles on Monday as artillery shells rained from above.

The intensity of fighting there and in nearby Lysychansk has made them both "dead cities", Mr Zelensky said.

If captured, the two strategic targets would deliver Russian forces the entire Luhansk region in Ukraine's east.

Since pulling its forces back from the Kyiv region in March, Russia has refocused its military efforts on Ukraine's eastern Donbas making slow advances there in recent weeks.

Despite the Russians' superior numbers, Mr Zelensky said the Ukrainian defenders were holding out and had "every chance" of fighting back.

Image source, Getty Images Image caption,

Smoke and dirt rising above Severodonetsk amid intense fighting in the eastern city on Thursday between Russian and Ukrainian forces