hospital and its operating room killing an unspecified number of people the video couldnt be independently verifiedthe governor of ukraines central dnipropetrovsk region valentyn reznichenko said two towns there were hit by russian grad rockets on friday there was no immediate word on casualties or damage separately the governor of russias kursk region roman starovoit said that a border post came under mortar fire from ukraine and that russian border forces returned fire he said there were no casualties on the russian sidethat comes a day after explosions were reported across the country in polonne in the west chernihiv in the north near the border with belarus and fastiv a large railway hub southwest of the capital the mayor of odesa in southern ukraine said rockets were intercepted by air defencesukrainian authorities also reported intense russian fire in the donbas the eastern industrial heartland that the kremlin says is its main objective and near kharkiv a northeastern city outside the donbas that is seen as key to the offensivecolumns of smoke could be seen rising at different points across the donetsk region of the donbas and artillery and sirens were heard on and off four civilians were also killed in heavy shelling of residential areas in the luhansk region of the donbas according to the regional governorin kyiv explosions shook the city and flames poured out the windows of the residential highrise and another building the capital had been relatively unscathed in recent weeks since moscow refocused its efforts on seizing all of the donbasthe explosions in northwestern kyivs shevchenkivsky district came as residents have been increasingly returning to the city cafes and other businesses have reopened and a growing numbers of people have been out and about enjoying the spring weatherthe attacks came as guterres surveyed the destruction in small towns outside the capital that saw some of the worst horrors of the first onslaught of the war he condemned the atrocities committed in towns like bucha where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after russia withdrew in early april in the face of unexpectedly stiff resistancewherever there is a war the highest price is paid by civilians the un chief lamentedgetting a full picture of the unfolding battle in the east has been difficult because airstrikes and artillery barrages have made it extremely dangerous for reporters to move around several journalists have been killed in the war now in its third month both ukraine and the moscowbacked rebels fighting in the east also have introduced tight restrictions on reporting from the combat zonewestern officials say the kremlins apparent goal is to take the donbas by encircling and crushing ukrainian forces from the north south and eastbut so far russias troops and their allied separatist forces appear to have made only minor gains taking several small towns as they try to advance in relatively small groups against staunch ukrainian resistancebritains defence ministry said on friday that the limited russian territorial gains have been achieved