Executions reported as Putin steps up attacks

RUSSIAN troops are said to have executed five Ukrainian civilians amid a fresh wave of deadly attacks on cities.

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

The war crime was reported in the occupied village of Zvanivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, according to Ukraine's Prosecutor's Office.

A married couple and their son were hiding in the basement of a house when Russian soldiers stormed in and began interrogating them about Ukrainian defenders of the village.