Five deaths, artillery fire disrupt Ukraine ceasefire

KIEV , Ukraine, May 6 (UPI) -- Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed, the Ukrainian government reported Wednesday, shaking a three-month truce in the eastern part of the country.

While relatively calm since February, when a truce went into effect, monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe reported over 550 explosions last week of mortar and heavy artillery in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where pro-Russian separatists are fighting Ukrainian troops.

Tuesday night over 40 artillery explosions were counted, the news agency Ukrinform reported. In addition to those killed, twelve service members were injured last week, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council reported.

Another refugee crisis is in the works, after a year-long conflict in which 1.2 million people have been displaced and five million people, the United Nations claims, are "in need of life-saving assistance." Residents living within the combat area are leaving, and heading to the industrial city of Kramatorsk, 60 miles westward.

Fears have begun another wide conflict prior to Russia's planned celebration of its World War II victory on May 9.