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The death toll from a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk rose to 11 on Saturday, as rescue crews tried to reach people trapped in the rubble of an apartment building, Ukrainian authorities said.
Ukraine’s air force said the country would have the weapons to prevent attacks like the one on Friday. The delivery of the Patriot air defense system promised by the United States is expected in Ukraine some time after Easter, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said.
Orthodox Christian countries mainly prepare to observe Easter on Sunday. Speaking on Ukrainian state TV, Ihnat declined to give an exact timeline for the arrival of the missile defense system but said the public would know “as soon as the first Russian plane is shot down.”
A group of 65 Ukrainian soldiers completed training last month at Fort Sill, a US Army post in Oklahoma, and returned to Europe to learn more about using defense missile systems to track and shoot down enemy aircraft.
Officials said at the time that the Ukrainians will then return to the country with a Patriot missile battery, which usually includes six mobile launchers, mobile radar, power generators and engagement control centers.
Germany and the Netherlands have also promised to each provide the Patriot system for Ukraine. In addition, the SAMP/T anti-missile system promised by France and Italy “should enter Ukraine in the near future,” Ihnat said this week.
The battle for Bakhmut intensified
Ukraine’s military is looking to improve its ability to intercept missiles as it prepares for a spring counter-offensive it hopes to retake Russian-held areas of the country.
Although more than a year of fighting has depleted arms supplies on both sides, Russian forces have stepped up their 8 1/2-month campaign to capture the city of Bakhmut, the focus of the longest war so far.
Bakhmut and Sloviansk are located about 45 kilometers apart in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk province.
Rescue teams in Sloviansk recovered the bodies of two people from under the rubble of a house hit by a missile attack on Friday, according to the State Emergency Service.
They are also searching for five people still trapped in the rubble of the apartment building, as well as residents of three units who were reported missing, said Vadym Liakh, head of the local government.
Separately, a 48-year-old woman and her 28-year-old daughter were killed on Saturday after Russian forces attacked a neighborhood in the city of Kherson, the regional administration said on the Telegram messaging service.
The southern port city was occupied by Russian forces in the early months of the war, but Ukrainian forces recaptured it in November – one of Moscow’s most famous battlefield defeats.
Russia’s new draft law
A new law signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday allowing military offices to send draft notices electronically instead of delivering them in person is part of Russia’s preparations for the ongoing war in Ukraine, Britain’s Defense Secretary said in an assessment Saturday morning.
According to British intelligence, “an integrated registry of individuals eligible for military service” will be digitally linked to other government services, allowing Russian authorities to “punish draft-dodgers by automatically restricting work rights and restricting foreign travel.”
Go by the Forest helps Russians who want to avoid the draft, from leaving the country to using legal means. The head of the group, Grigory Sverdlin, said the name also translates to ‘Get Lost’ in Russian, a double meaning that tells citizens not to avoid the draft by “getting lost”, and sends a message to the government.
Since the law is not implemented until the end of the year, the UK said that the e-news does not automatically indicate “an imposed mobilization wave” but is part of a “long-term approach to provide personnel as Russia expects a long conflict in Ukraine.”
Meanwhile, 52,000 young Russians have received draft orders as part of the country’s regular spring call-up, and 21,000 of them are qualified for military service, Col. Andrey Biryukov, who is in charge of mobilization, said there.
Biryukov addressed concerns that the new mandatory electronic law would allow more mobilization of reserves, as Putin ordered last September.
“I want to emphasize that all army suspensions for citizens will remain valid. And e-draft orders will not be sent in bulk,” he said.
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