OVERNIGHT shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk left three people dead today and five others wounded as Kiev’s forces tightened their grip on the rebel stronghold.

The Donetsk city council said yesterday that several residential buildings had been damaged by shells in a neighbourhood about four miles from the city centre.

And even as the council spokesman was reporting, a mortar hit Vishnevskiy Hospital less than three miles from the city’s main square.

Hospital doctor Anna Kravtsova said that one person had been killed — a patient of the hospital, which has been providing care for civilian casualties. 

Donetsk city council spokesman Maxim Rovensky said five others had been wounded.

In Kiev, meanwhile, right-wing demonstrators confronted city workers attempting to clear Independence Square, setting light to tyres.

City authorities have been negotiating to clear the square since May, but have met resistance from several hundred camping rightwingers.