Ukraine Readies for US Missile System After Russian Strike

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In Kyiv, Ukraine, eleven people have died after a Russian missile hit the city of Sloviansk. Rescue teams are trying to get survivors out from the wreckage of an apartment building that the missile destroyed.

The Ukrainian air force announced that the country will soon have more weapons to protect against attacks like what happened on Friday. The United States promised to send a defense system called Patriot after Easter and it should arrive in Ukraine soon.

A predominantly Christian country is celebrating Easter on Sunday. On Saturday, someone on Ukrainian state TV said they won’t tell when their missiles will arrive, but people will know it’s coming when they shoot down the first Russian airplane.

Last month, 65 soldiers from Ukraine finished their training at a U.S. Army post named Fort Sill in Oklahoma. Afterwards, they left for Europe to gain knowledge of how to use the defense missile system and shot down other planes. It was mentioned that when they come back to Ukraine, they will be granted a Patriot missile battery which typically consists of six mobile launchers, radar, generator and an engagement control center.

Germany and the Netherlands both promised to give Ukraine a type of protection system called Patriot. France and Italy will be providing a different protection system called SAMP/T, which is expected to arrive soon in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian army wants to get better at catching missiles as the country gets ready for a possible fight this spring against Russian troops that have invaded parts of the country. Even though both sides are running out of weapons after over a year with battles, Russia is still trying hard to take control of Bakhmut, which is now the place where an ongoing war has been going on for more than 8 months.

Bakhmut and Sloviansk are two towns that are about 45 kilometers (28 miles) away from each other in the Donetsk province of eastern Ukraine.

Emergency crews who were working in Sloviansk reported that they had found the bodies of two people under piles of debris near a house that was hit by missiles on Friday. They also continued to search around the damaged apartment building to try and find five people who had been reported missing, plus anyone else who could have been inside those apartments. Vadym Liakh is the leader of this area’s local government and he confirmed these searches were taking place.

A mother and her daughter, aged 48 and 28, respectively, sadly died on Saturday after Russian forces fired bombs at the city of Kherson. The city was occupied by Russia at the beginning of this war until Ukrainian fighters took it back in November; it was a big loss for them.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law. This law lets military offices notify people about the draft (or joining the army) through electronic means instead of bringing them the message in person. The U.K. Defense Ministry believes this move is Russia’s way of getting ready for a long battle against Ukraine.

British intelligence shares that Russia is creating a list of people who are allowed to join their military. Other government services will be connected with this list, so if someone does not enlist in the military, the government can stop them from getting jobs and going abroad.

The U.K. Defense Ministry said that sending out e-notices does not mean a serious increase in military power will happen soon, but it’s part of planning for if Russia decides to fight against Ukraine for a long time.

Around 52,000 Russian teenage boys have gotten orders to be part of the country’s spring call-up. Out of those boys, 21,000 were allowed to join the military service. Colonel Andrey Biryukov is in charge of this mobilization and he made sure that it does not mean a larger number of reservists will have to sign up for the military, like what President Putin ordered last September.

Biryukov said that all army “time-outs” for citizens are still good and the draft papers won’t be sent out in a big group. To get more information about Russia and Ukraine’s war, you can check out the link. Lastly, this article changed the name of an Army post in Oklahoma from Fort Still to Fort Sill.