“Unfortunately, during the night, the death toll increased. Rescuers extricated the body of a woman from the rubble,” Vadim Lyakh, the head of the military administration of this Donbass city, wrote on Facebook. He said “five people” identified remained buried in the ruins, and that a total of 21 had been injured. A previous toll reported at least eight deaths.
The main information to remember:
- Child found dead among victims of Russian strike on Sloviansk building
- A preliminary investigation had been opened for violation of the laws and customs of war
- Vladimir Putin has promulgated a law facilitating the mobilization of young Russians in the army: a reservist can now be mobilized electronically
Zelensky accuses Moscow of ‘brutally bombing’ residential buildings
A two-year-old child died shortly after being pulled out of the rubble, said Daria Zarivna, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on Friday evening. Sloviansk is in a Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region, 45 kilometers northwest of Bakhmout.
According to kyiv, it was targeted on Friday by seven missiles, which damaged five buildings, five houses, a school and an administrative building. President Zelensky accused Moscow of “brutally bombing” residential buildings and “killing people in broad daylight”.
Preliminary investigation
In a statement, the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said a preliminary investigation had been opened for violation of the laws and customs of war. “According to preliminary information, the occupiers used an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system against the civilian population,” adds the text.
AFP reporters saw rescue workers searching for survivors on the top floor of a residential building and black smoke billowing from burning houses across the street. “I live across the street and I was sleeping when I heard this huge explosion,” Larisa, a 59-year-old resident, told AFP.
Change in the summons of Russian soldiers
On Friday in Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin promulgated a law facilitating the mobilization of young Russians into the army. A reservist can now be mobilized electronically, via a Russian public service portal, or if the order is given to a third party, according to Russian agencies. Until then, the invitations had to be hand-delivered. President Putin decreed a mobilization of 300,000 reservists in September 2022, the implementation of which has often been chaotic.
If the Kremlin denies wanting to launch a second wave of mobilization, many are those in Russia who are worried about it, while the Ukrainian army is preparing a counter-offensive. The police have the right to hunt down defaulters, who incur prison sentences. The tax service, universities and other public bodies will have to provide the personal information of those mobilized.
Refusal to report to the enrollment office will thus deprive Russians of the possibility of working as an entrepreneur or self-employed person, of receiving loans or of disposing of their accommodation and their car. These measures also concern Russians who have fled their country.
The challenge of Bakhmout
The mobilization of September 2022 had caused the flight of tens of thousands of Russians abroad. The shelling of the civilian building in Sloviansk comes as Moscow said it is increasing pressure to seize other areas of the ravaged city of Bakhmut further south. The Russian military said Wagner Group mercenaries are advancing towards the western districts of the city, supported by airborne troops from Moscow.
“Wagner’s assault units are carrying out high-intensity combat operations to conquer the western districts of the city,” the Russian military said in a statement. Russian paratroopers “provide support to the assault units and prevent the enemy from delivering ammunition to the city and bringing reserves there”. Ukraine promised to continue to defend Bakhmout. But on the ground, Ukrainian sources near the city admitted to AFP that Kiev forces were in a “difficult” position.
On the diplomatic front, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, visiting Beijing, urged the United States to “stop encouraging war and start talking about peace”. The international community will thus be able to “convince” Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelensky that “peace is in the interest of the whole world”, he added.