Five Civilians Killed in Ukraine's Donetsk

Five civilians were killed during intensified shelling in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, local authorities said Thursday. 

The fresh casualties came Wednesday amid fighting close to the army-held Donetsk airport, they said.

Artillery strikes continued to be heard Thursday morning in the city, where deadly clashes between Ukrainian forces and separatist rebels have reduced their ceasefire accord to a truce in name only.

Donetsk's northeastern neighborhoods close to the airport have seen much of the fighting, as several Ukrainian contingents holed up there since May seek to stave off more than a week of nearly ceaseless rebel attacks.

An Agence France Presse reporter on Thursday saw the bodies of two people killed in shelling and shops damaged by mortar fire.

Donetsk city authorities said several residential buildings in the same districts had been destroyed and that two shopping centers had also been hit.

Despite the September 5 truce signed between Kiev authorities and the leaders of pro-Russian separatist groups in Donetsk and neighboring Lugansk provinces, more than 330 people have been killed in fighting and five million people continue to be affected by violence, according to the United Nations.