KIEV, July 15. /ITAR-TASS/. A Ukrainian Air Force plane on Tuesday fired five missiles on the city of Snezhny in the southeastern Ukrainian Donetsk Region. The rockets hit the tax administration building and a nearby residential building.

The press service of the Donetsk regional administration reported that four residents of Snezhny were found dead under the ruins of a collapsed residential building; 12 apartments have been destroyed.

Civilians died in the southeastern city of Luhansk too. The city hall declared mourning for Tuesday and the next two days. According to the city council, over the past three days, 17 city dwellers have been killed, 73 people have received fragmentation and gunshot wounds and 24 residential buildings have been destroyed.

City shellings were the reason why the power supply system was turned off for 5,000 consumers and 1,300 families were left without gas. Combat engineers have defused 53 rounds of ammunition in the city over the past 24 hours.

Troops loyal to Kiev also sustain losses. Six soldiers were killed and 13 were wounded today in shootouts with militiamen, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council speaker Andrey Lysenko said. The day before, three servicemen were killed and 12 wounded. There were no data about militiamen’s losses.

European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule, while speaking Tuesday in the European Parliament, called on the sides to the conflict to immediately stop fire.

Pro-Kiev troops and local militias in the southeastern Ukrainian Donetsk and Luhansk regions are involved in fierce clashes as the Ukrainian armed forces are conducting a military operation to regain control over the breakaway regions, which on May 11 proclaimed their independence at local referendums.

During the military operation, conducted since mid-April, Kiev has used armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. According to Ukraine’s Health Ministry, 478 civilians have been killed and 1,392 wounded in it. Many buildings have been destroyed and tens of thousands of people have had to flee Ukraine’s embattled Southeast.

South Ossetia has recognized the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. No other countries have followed suit so far.