Escalation in Ukraine fighting raises death toll over 5,350

The United Nations has raised the death toll from fighting in eastern Ukraine to over 5,350 people and is condemning the high number of civilians killed in the indiscriminate shelling there.
Hostilities between Russian-backed separatists and Ukrainian troops resumed with a vengeance in January after a month of relative calm.
The UN Human Rights office said today at least 5,358 people have been killed since the fighting began in April, including at least 224 civilians in the past three weeks alone The agency urged both sides to make the protection of civilians an "utmost priority."
Rebels in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk said today that artillery fire killed at least eight people and wounded 22 others in the past day.