KYIV - The eastern Ukrainian city of Lysychansk was heavily shelled by Russian forces on Friday and there were many dead, Governor Serhiy Gaidai told Ukraine's public broadcaster.

Lysychansk sits just the other side of the Siverskyi Donets river to the battleground city of Sievierodonetsk, which over the last several weeks has seen some of the most brutal street fighting observed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Gaidai said Russian forces had not managed to capture Sieverodonetsk and fighting continued to rage there on Friday.

(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, writing by Nerijus Adomaitis, editing by Mark Heinrich)