Four civilians and one soldier were reported killed after a week of the month-long deadliest fighting between Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels. Both sides accused each other on Saturday of shelling residential areas despite a ceasefire.
Separatists said one man was killed by shelling from Ukrainian forces in central Donetsk. A witness reported seeing the body of man in a burning building, though it was unclear if it was the same person, Reuters reported.
More than 6,500 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine in April last year. Both sides continue to accuse each other of violations, though attacks have lessened since a peace agreement was brokered in Minsk, Belarus five months ago.
The region has been festering since the end of February 2014, when demonstrations by pro-Russian and anti-government groups took place in major cities across the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine in the aftermath of the Euromaidan movement and the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
"The vast majority of shelling and armed attacks by the rebels take place at night to avoid attracting the attention of international observers," Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said, according to NBC News. He said separatists had been attacking residential areas north-west of the rebel-held Donetsk city and that one serviceman, a woman, her granddaughter and a 49-year-old man had been killed.
The sounds of intensive artillery strikes could be heard in the centre of separatist-held Donetsk on Saturday evening, according to the Reuters witness. Meanwhile, rebels accused Ukraine of intensifying their assault.
None of the casualty reports could be independently verified.
Neither side has fully withdrawn heavy artillery from the frontline, as required by the peace deal, said The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the ceasefire, The Times of India reported.
In fact, Ivica Dacic, the head of the OSCE, said on Friday that both sides must stick to the Minsk agreement if they want to avoid a worse humanitarian crisis and achieve peace.
