Intense fighting between government troops and independence-seeking insurgents in eastern Ukraine killed seven people over the past 24 hours, authorities said Tuesday.

Andrei Lysenko, spokesman for the National Security and Defense Council, said one Ukrainian soldier was killed and five others were wounded in the clashes with rebels.

The civilian deaths came in the areas of Donetsk region engulfed by fighting, with government troops and insurgents accusing each other of using heavy artillery in residential districts.

Among the victims, three people were killed on Monday evening in the rebel stronghold of Donetsk and another civilian died in the neighboring Gorlovka town, said the press service of the government's military operation in the east.

Separately, two more civilians have been killed when shells hit a public transport bus in Donetsk city on Tuesday morning, local authorities said.

A fresh wave of fighting in the conflict, which rages since mid-April, came after Ukrainian authorities decided to repeal the law which grants "special status" to rebel-held areas on Nov. 4.

Overall, the seven-month-long armed confrontation has claimed over 4,300 lives and injured more than 9,900 people.

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