Artillery fire claimed another 15 civilian lives in Donetsk on Thursday, the City Council said.

"In the afternoon Petrovsky district came under an artillery attack. The district infrastructure was damaged, and residential and non-residential buildings were destroyed. There are fatalities among the population – 11 local people were killed in Petrovsky district… Three people were killed in Kuibyshevsky district and one in Kyivsky district," the council said in a statement.

Kuibyshevsky and Kyivsky districts were pounded at 1500 p.m. The council said three buildings had been damaged on Panfilova Street. Emergency parties were trying to extinguish fires.

"The situation in Donetsk was extremely tense as of 1830 p.m.," the council said.

The military command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic told Interfax that the Donetsk Institute of Internal Affairs (a police college) had been practically destroyed in the bombardment. The institute campus consisted of several buildings, including student residences. Some of the buildings were smashed by explosions, the rest burned down, the command said.

"Educational buildings and barracks were destroyed. Some of the buildings had direct hits. It can be said that [the institute] is practically non-restorable," it said.

Emergency parties were unable to immediately get down to extinguishing fires because of shelling.