Ukrainian forces shelling damaged the administration building in the city of Donetsk, the capital of the Donetsk region, Russian-backed administration of the city said on Sunday.

The administration said on the Telegram messaging app that the main entry into the building was hit and several nearby cars damaged.

There was no immediate reaction from Ukraine to the attack.

Reuters could no verify the report.

Donetsk city has been controlled by the Russian-backed Donetsk People's Republic since 2014. Russia moved in September to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine, in the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least half a century.

Moscow declared the annexations after holding what it called referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine. Western governments and Kyiv said the votes breached international law and were coercive and non-representative.

(Reporting in Melbourne by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Michael Perry)