A 30-year-old civilian woman died after being shot in the head by sniper fire while standing on her balcony in Slavyansk. RTs Paula Slier visited shocked relatives of the victim, who say a Ukrainian army sniper is responsible, though they don't know why.

The apartment, located on the sixth floor of a small block of flats, appeared to be away from the recent fighting in Slavyansk, and no barricades or checkpoints could be seen anywhere near the area.

Irina, who was head of a department at a technical college in Slavyansk, never took part in any protests or fighting. However, when standing on her balcony and waiting for her husband to come home from a nearby garage, the woman was targeted by an unidentified sniper. Neighbors said they heard a popping sound coming from the trees opposite her window.

Ukrainian troops which have encircled Slavyansk are firing their machine guns at any transport that is trying to move out of the city, preventing civilians from leaving, members of the self-defense forces are saying.

The city is encircled and civilians are not allowed to leave, a representative of the self-defense forces told Itar-Tass. Just recently, a family with a young child tried to leave the city by car. As a result, [the troops] opened fired, killing at least 2 people.

The anti-Kiev militia says it has downed Ukrainian armys An-30B plane near the city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine. The self-defense forces told Russian media that the Ukrainian military used the aircraft for "surveillance."

"During the whole day a Ukrainian surveillance plane was hovering [over Slavyansk]. Self-defense forces downed it one engine caught fire, a local militia representative was cited as saying by Itar-Tass news agency.

At least 356 people, including 257 civilians, have died since the beginning of the anti-terrorist operation in Ukraines eastern regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, according to UN calculations. There were 14 children among the dead.

The results prepared by the UN special commission in Ukraine have been presented by Gianni Magazzeni, head of European Department of the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights.

According to Magazzeni, the final body count includes 257 civilians (of them 14 children), 11 more died in Mariupol plus two staff members of Voda Donbassa company . The remaining 86 victims are the servicemen of Ukrainian army, including several dozen paratroopers and nine crew members of Ilyushin-76 who died in the recent plane crash not far from Lugansk airport.