Ukraine: Eight people, including a toddler who was pulled from the rubble but passed away in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, were killed when Russia shelled a building housing apartments in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk on Friday, according to authorities.

As Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, signed a bill that will make it simpler to enlist civilians in the military and prevent them from fleeing the country if they are drafted, the attack on the peaceful neighbourhood took place.

A city that will be at risk if Kyiv loses the longest and bloodiest battle of the war is Bakhmut, located 45 kilometres (27 miles) southeast of Sloviansk. Russia also claimed to be advancing further into Bakhmut.

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Slovansk is located in a section of the Donetsk region that is governed by Ukraine. After the strike destroyed an apartment block, the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, announced on Ukrainian television that "21 people were wounded and eight people died."

He claimed it was a boy who had passed away. Rescuers were searching for survivors on the top floor of the typical Soviet housing complex as black smoke billowed from burning houses across the street, as seen by AFP journalists. Ukrainian police announced on Twitter that a child who had been rescued from the rubble had died inside an ambulance.

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Olena Zelenska, the first lady of Ukraine, expressed her sympathy to the child's family during this time of "indescribable grief." Volodymyr Zelensky, the president, earlier criticised Russia for "brutally shelling" residences and "killing people in broad daylight."

Concrete dust and debris, including torn pages from textbooks and kid's drawings, covered the street below, including a playground. Larisa, a 59-year-old resident, said to AFP, "I live on the other side of the street and I was sleeping a little when I heard this huge boom and I ran out from my flat."

She remarked, "I was really scared and in a state of shock," adding that the shelling's impact had broken her windows and sent glass shards flying throughout her house. "There's a child here, there's a child here," the woman was yelling, and she was so loud. A nearby resident who wished to remain anonymous told AFP that the strikes had destroyed her windows and knocked her front door off its hinges.

She continued, pointing to a pool of blood next to another entrance of her building, "No one from our side of the building was injured but perhaps someone here was."

More than a year after Moscow began its offensive in Ukraine, fears are running high in Russia that the government is preparing a new mobilisation drive after a bill to establish a digital draught system was rushed through parliament this week.

A draftee would be prohibited from travelling internationally under the law, which Putin signed on Friday, and would need to report to an enlistment office after receiving electronic call-up papers. Following Putin's announcement of a mobilisation to support the forces in Ukraine, tens of thousands of men left Russia in the fall of last year.

Moscow claimed it was pushing to take more districts of ravaged Bakhmut when it launched the attack on Sloviansk, whose residents have fled in large numbers since Russia invaded. Despite having little strategic significance, military leaders have become fixated on the town, which has resulted in a brutal nine-month war of attrition.

The western districts of the city are being taken over by Wagner assault units, according to a statement from the Russian army, which was referring to the private paramilitary organisation.

It also stated that Russian airborne troops were "supporting assault squads and thwarting enemy attempts to bring in reserves and deliver ammunition to the city."

Moscow asserted on Thursday that it had cut off Ukrainian forces in Bakhmut. Kiev refuted the assertion, asserting that it could send in munitions and had access to its troops.

Ukraine has promised to keep up its defence of Bakhmut. However, Ukrainian sources close to Bakhmut said on Friday to AFP that Kyiv's forces were in a "difficult" position on the ground.

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According to an army source, "I know that many of our soldiers are missing, that positions were lost, and it was impossible to evacuate or withdraw the troops," adding that Ukraine was still "bringing in fresh people" to Bakhmut.

Separately, a source in the intelligence community stated that any withdrawal from Bakhmut would be slow and gradual due to the limited remaining escape route.