At least 21 dead after Russian shelling of east Ukraine town: local officials

At least 21 people were killed and 25 were injured on Thursday when Russian forces shelled a town in eastern Ukraine, local prosecutors said.

Artillery fire early Thursday hit a school and a cultural centre in the town of Merefa outside the city of Kharkiv, regional prosecutors said in a post on Facebook. Of the wounded, 10 people are in serious condition.

The conflict has already sent more than three million Ukrainians fleeing across the border, many of them women and children.

Ukraine authorities said 103 children have been killed since the invasion began.