The conflict in Ukraine has "deeply affected" 580,000 children close to the front lines and in areas in the volatile east not under government control, UNICEF said late Thursday.

UNICEF said in a statement that 200,000 youngsters, more than a third, need psycho-social support.

Ukraine remains locked in conflict with Moscow, which annexed the Crimean Peninsula and has supported a pro-Russian insurgency in the east.

Fighting there has killed more than 9,000 people since April 2014 and devastated the nation's industrial heartland.