The city of Slovyansk in Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas was shelled by Russians, resulting in eight civilian deaths.
The governor of the city of Slovyansk, Pavlo Kyrylenko, reported that around twenty-one people were wounded in the attack, with several more missing, and added that there was a possibility of them being trapped under rubble. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, posted on social media, condemning the brutal and evil attack by Russia. He states that the evil state was once again demonstrating its presence and had not hesitated in killing civilians in broad daylight, continuing to ruin and destroy lives.
Of the eight civilians killed, Ukrainian officials confirm that one was a two-year-old child. According to a senior advisor to President Zelensky, the child was initially found under rubble and was alive, but on the way to the hospital, he succumbed to his injuries in the ambulance.
Attack on civilians
The governor’s statement reports that the strike hit five houses and five blocks of flats, along with businesses and shops that were also damaged in the blasts along with injuries to civilians. The exact timing of the blasts has been estimated to be around 18:00 local time (16:00 BST). The governor also added that the repurposed S-300 missiles had likely been used in the strike. This system of missiles was originally designed to act as a surface-to-air defence system but has been used by Russia to repeatedly strike ground targets in Ukrainian territory. Russia’s ammunition stores are depleting at a steady rate as the war continues to progress.
The AFP news agency that reported the strike witnessed black smoke billowing from buildings across the road while rescue workers dug up civilian survivors at the scene of one of the blasts that happened. Mentioning the street across the site of the blast, reporters state that it included a playground, which was now littered with debris that consisted of children’s drawings and torn pages from school books. Andriy Yermak, the head of President Zelensky’s private office, previously stated that seven explosions had been heard across the city, of which a few seemed to have been near the school.
Russia’s attempts at capture
The city of Slovyansk, which is still under Ukrainian control, lies just 27 miles to the northwest of the city of Bakhmut. Bakhmut has been at the centre of an extensive assault led by Russia for several months. Since last summer, Russia has made continued attempts to capture the city. On Friday, mercenaries from the Wagner group were seen to have continued the attack on the city, according to defence officials from Moscow. The statement by them also included that Russian airborne troops were halting the enemy’s trials of bringing in reserves and ammunition deliveries and were there to provide support to assault squads.
Ukraine has affirmed the continued defence of Bakhmut, but this move has limited value with respect to military strategy. Despite this, extremely high losses have been suffered by Russia while trying to capture the city. Open-source analysis by the BBC news agency’s Russian service has established the identities of around 20,000 Russian soldiers who have been killed since the beginning of the war. Of those, approximately 1,800 seem to have been in the past two weeks.
