Russia's defence ministry on Saturday accused the Ukrainian army of striking a hospital in the eastern Lugansk region, leaving 14 dead and injuring 24 others.

On Saturday morning in the town of Novoaidar, "the Ukrainian armed forces deliberately attacked the building of a district hospital" with a US-made HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that 14 were killed and 24 wounded among the "hospital patients and medical staff."

It said that the hospital has been providing "necessary medical assistance to the local population and military personnel for many months".

"A deliberate missile strike on a known active civilian medical facility is, without doubt, a grave war crime by the Kyiv regime," the ministry said.