SLOVIANSK, UKRAINE (AFP) – The shelling of a block of flats in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, killed nine people, authorities said yesterday, including a two-year-old boy who was rescued from the rubble but died on his way to hospital.
Friday’s strike on the quiet neighbourhood came as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that will make it easier to mobilise citizens into the army and block them from fleeing the country if drafted.
Russia also said it was pushing further into the hotspot of Bakhmut, 45 kilometres southeast of Sloviansk, which is one of the cities that will be at risk if Kyiv loses the longest and bloodiest battle of the war. Sloviansk lies in a part of the Donetsk region that is under Ukrainian control. According to Kyiv, it was struck by seven missiles which hit five buildings, five homes, a school and an administrative building.
Head of Sloviansk’s military administration Vadim Lyakh, said yesterday that nine people died, including a woman whose body was recovered from the rubble overnight and 21 were wounded.
Five people were still under the rubble and their identities were established, he said. AFP journalists saw rescue workers digging for survivors on the top floor of the typical Soviet-era housing block.
