Russian missile strike in Ukraine’s Sloviansk claims 8 lives

According to authorities, at least eight people were killed in a Russian missile strike on a residential area in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday. Al Jazeera reported, citing the governor of the Donetsk region Pavlo Kyrylenko, that seven Russian S-300 missiles had been fired at Sloviansk, west of Bakhmut, the site of the fiercest fighting on the Ukrainian front line. According to Kyrylenko, there have been 21 injuries and eight fatalities at all sites as of now. According to Ukrainian police on Twitter, a youngster died in an ambulance after being rescued from the rubble.

The attack occurred after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill on Friday that will make it easier to enlist civilians in the military and prevent them from fleeing the country if called up, according to Al Jazeera. Under the law, which Putin signed on Friday, a draftee would be prohibited from travelling internationally and would be required to report to an enlisting office after receiving electronic call-up papers.

Tens of thousands of men fled Russia last year after Putin declared a mobilisation to support Ukrainian soldiers. According to Al Jazeera, Moscow claimed it was attempting to seize more districts of the devastated Bakhmut when it launched the attack on Sloviansk, whose population has fled in large numbers since Russia’s invasion.

The Russia-Ukraine war, which began on February 24, has claimed many lives, and the conflict between the two countries is still escalating. The largest land conflict in Europe since WWII has displaced millions, destroying Ukrainian cities, towns, and villages and disrupting the global economy.