At least 20 killed in Russian strike on east Ukraine: Zelensky

A Russian strike on Tuesday in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region killed at least 20 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a social media post, the latest massive deadly strike amid stalled peace efforts.

Moscow has claimed the industrial region as part of Russia despite not having full control over it, and Kyiv says the Kremlin has massed 100,000 troops at a key part of the front line for a fresh offensive.

"A brutally savage Russian airstrike with an aerial bomb on the rural settlement of Yarova in the Donetsk region. Directly on people. Ordinary civilians. At the very moment when pensions were being disbursed," Zelensky said in his post.

"According to preliminary information, more than 20 people were killed," the Ukrainian leader added.

The governor of the Donetsk region said 21 people had been killed and that the same number of people had been wounded.

Zelensky posted amateur video from the scene showing corpses strewn across the ground and a burned-out minivan near a playground, with personal belongings, papers, and shoes scattered all around.

AFP could not independently verify the images posted by Ukrainian officials.

Yarova, which lies approximately eight kilometres (nearly five miles) from the front line, had a pre-war population of around 1,900 people.

Zelensky urged Ukraine's allies to issue a response to the attack.

"A response is needed from the United States. A response is needed from Europe. A response is needed from the G20," he said.

- 'Strong actions' -

"Strong actions are needed to make Russia stop bringing death," Zelensky added.

A spokesman for the Ukrainian postal network, Ukrposhta, confirmed to AFP that one of their vehicles was damaged in the attack and an employee had been hospitalised.

Ukrposhta delivers public services in frontline regions, including the distribution of pension payments.

Russia has been steadily advancing in the eastern Donetsk region for months, concentrating its firepower on the territory and deploying troops from other parts of the front line, Kyiv has said.

Authorities in Donetsk have been appealing to civilians to flee the fighting since the early days of Russia's invasion in February 2022.

Ukrainian commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said this week that Russian forces outnumbered Ukrainian troops threefold in some areas of the front, and by six times in regions where Moscow has concentrated its forces.

US President Donald Trump has tried to find a way to end the war in recent weeks but has little to show for his efforts.

The strike comes just days after a Russian missile crashed into the Ukrainian government headquarters in central Kyiv, the first time the complex had been hit in the three-and-a-half-year war.

Tens of thousands have been killed and millions force from their homes in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War II.