Kiev, Ukraine (CNN)Shelling in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday killed four people, as fighting damaged a hospital and schools, local officials said. The deaths occurred at a hospital in Kirov district in Donetsk, the city council there said. The shelling damaged area schools, including a kindergarten. Kirov district was left without power. Wednesday's deaths are the result of a worsening conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. Civilians increasingly are falling victim, with at least 224 killed and more than 540 injured in the final three weeks of January, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights said Tuesday. As the situation deteriorates, the United States is considering sending lethal aid to help the Ukrainian government fend off attacks from pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions. This assistance would come in the form of so-called defensive lethal aid, which could include antitank, antiaircraft and counter-artillery systems.
Four deaths at a hospital in Kirov district in Donetsk, city officials say . Local schools, including a kindergarten, damaged by shelling .