AFP journalists observed the deployment of rescue workers to a residential building from the Soviet era on site in Sloviansk. Other houses on the opposite side of the street were on fire, and black smoke was rising from them. A child died in an ambulance after being pulled out of the rubble, Ukrainian police said on Twitter. Kyrylenko said the child was a little boy.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said after the attack that Russia was bombing residential buildings “brutally” and killing people “in broad daylight”.
Sloviansk is located in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region and is 45 kilometers north-west of the city of Bakhmut, which has been heavily contested for months. According to Russian information, mercenaries from the Wagner group continued to advance in the city, which is about 45 kilometers southeast of Sloviansk, on Friday. As AFP learned from Ukrainian army circles, Kiev is continuing to send new troops to Bakhmut.
The Donetsk region is one of the four Ukrainian regions that Putin declared to be annexed in September, although Moscow only partially controls the areas. Since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the Russian army has carried out numerous attacks on civilian infrastructure there.
Last weekend, a man and his eleven-year-old daughter were killed in a rocket attack on their home in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia, which is also claimed by Russia.
More than a year after the start of the Russian invasion, Putin on Friday signed a law to make it easier for Russian citizens to mobilize. In the future, reservists can also send their call-up notice via a state online portal or have it sent to another person.
Until now, notices of convocation had to be delivered personally. In September 2022, Putin ordered the mobilization of 300,000 reservists. However, this had been slow, tens of thousands of Russians had fled abroad.
The law, now signed by Putin, allows the police to search for citizens who have been called to bear arms. Tax offices, universities and other public bodies are now required to provide personal information about eligible citizens for mobilization.
