A 27-year-old police officer has been killed by a sniper in the village of Makarove near Stanytsia Luhanska in the Luhansk region, according to Luhansk region state administration head Hennadiy Moskal.

"Stanytsia Luhanska has been through eight massive attacks by mortars, Grad rocket launchers, artillery systems and light weapons since last night. Army positions in the district center and the village of Makarove [situated close to Stanytsia Luhanska] and residential areas came under fire. A 27-year-old policeman was shot and killed by a hostile sniper," Moskal's press service reported on Thursday.

Taras Dorosh, a sergeant in the Lviv special police battalion from the village of Malekhiv in the Zhovkivsky district of the Lviv region, has died, Lviv police chief Dmytro Zaharia wrote on Facebook. District administration head Yevhen Bidashko also came under fire on his way home from work in the Luhansk region last night. Several shells exploded near his vehicle. No one was hurt.

Information about possible casualties of the morning attack on Stanytsia Luhanska is being verified. The town was bombarded at about 8 a.m. on Thursday. Power, water and heating supply have been cut off and repairmen are trying to restore the damaged utility systems.