2 people killed by Russian shelling in east Ukraine

Podoly was occupied shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the village was retaken by Kyiv in a counteroffensive last September.

Two people were killed and another wounded on Saturday when Russian shelling hit a cafe in the village of Podoly in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, local governor Oleh Synehubov said.

A destroyed apartment in a heavily damaged residential building following Russian strikes in Kharkiv (AFP)

"The enemy hit a civilian object - a cafe where local residents were during the day," Synehubov wrote on Telegram.

Podoly was occupied shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, but the village was retaken by Kyiv in a counteroffensive last September.

Russian forces have been attempting to push forward on the Kharkiv region frontline in recent weeks. The Ukrainian army has acknowledged fighting there has become more difficult but says it is holding the line. (Reporting by Max Hunder; editing by Jason Neely)