Private Oleksandr slows his pace as the loud sound of artillery fire shakes the steel-colored sky of the city of Avdiivka. He raises his hand, pauses. His face expresses the greatest concentration. A few seconds pass. “It’s ours,” he finally assures, before stepping over a piece of junk twisted by an explosion. Known by the nickname “Texas,” the faded blue-eyed man never wavered from his calm caution. It has been several weeks since Russian forces “intensified their attacks,” as he puts it softly, describing a massive enemy attempt to capture Avdiivka, a small frontline town that runs through the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
A soldier of the Kiev regiment observes the neighboring city of Donetsk occupied by the Russian army from Avdiïvka (Ukraine), March 6, 2023. LAURENT VAN DER STOCKT FOR “DIE WELT”
“They haven’t grounded their planes for a long time, but they’ve been doing it more and more regularly over the past two weeks,” explains the soldier, who has been fighting in the war-torn province for more than eight years. In addition to conventional artillery, attacks by Kremlin fighter planes are now the order of the day in Avdiivka. On Saturday, March 4 alone, Oleksandr counted six airstrikes. Two during the day, four at night. The craters created by the explosions of missiles fired from the planes are several meters wide and deep, adding an ultimate level of destruction.
The situation in Bakhmout worsens
After more than a year of war, the city of 30,000 was already a huge mess. The avenues, which almost nobody dares to walk any more, are strewn with whole sections of collapsed houses. The buildings are charred, riddled with impacts. A few shadows, the last occupants, hastily sneak in before returning to the shelters.
For several weeks, Kremlin troops have been concentrating their offensive on eastern Ukraine in hopes of capturing the Donetsk region. Along with Vouhledar and Bakhmout, Avdiïvka is one of the cities on the Eastern Front where fighting is fiercest. However, the efforts of the Russian army have so far not resulted in any significant progress. Nevertheless, the situation in Bakhmout, an iconic city that has been relentlessly harassed by Russian forces since August, is suffering heavy casualties. “The Russians could try to encircle Ukrainian forces in Bakhmout, but the Ukrainian command gave the signal that it would rather withdraw than risk encirclement,” said a group of American experts from the Institute for the Study of War on Saturday.
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