Video: Soup kitchen hit by Ukrainian military rockets in dramatic new footage

The women in the soup kitchen were eventually able to find shelter in the cellar of a nearby school

Two women take shelter under a table as the shells hit the soup kitchen (Ruptly)

Shocking video footage has emerged that shows the moment Ukrainian military rockets hit a soup kitchen in the east of the country.

The video taken yesterday by freelance journalist Patrick John Lancaster captures staff in the kitchen in Pervomaisk, near Luhansk showing Lancaster the damage caused by a previous attack just moments before the rockets hit.

An elderly woman can be heard crying and screaming uncontrollably as she is comforted by a friend.

The video then cuts to the women running across a courtyard before finding refuge in the cellar of a nearby school.

Reports say there were no casualties caused by the shelling.

The latest footage comes at a time when the fighting between Ukrainian and pro-Russian rebel forces intensifies in the east of the country.

On Monday, the Ukranian army reported that nine of its soldiers and seven civilians had died as pro-Russian rebels closed in on the major transport hub of Debaltseve in Donetsk.

The news comes 24 hours before a planned meeting on Wednesday in Minsk between representatives from Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany will attempt to reach an agreement over a ceasefire.

US President Barack Obama has already said that the US are “studying the possibility” of supplying the Ukranian army with “lethal defensive weapons” if diplomacy doesn’t work.

Russia has always denied that they have sent troops or arms to separatist forces.