The “fighting has not calmed down in Avdiivka,” explains the mayor
The Ukrainian army claimed on Thursday it was defending the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, which has been the target of an offensive for several days by Russian forces as they try again to surround this well-defended fortress. The town’s mayor, Vitalii Barabash, reported on Thursday, for the third day in a row, a “very tense situation” with “fighting around the city that has not calmed down” and bombings on Ukrainian and municipal positions.
In particular, Mr. Barabash reported on a rocket attack during the night on this industrial city in Donbass, which caused no casualties. According to him, Ukrainian troops are holding firm, have held their positions and “all attacks have been repelled.” “In some places we even tried a counterattack,” he said on television. A spokesman for the Ukrainian army, Andriï Kovalev, also assured that the troops present in Avdiivka were “courageously defending” the city and “repelling attacks.”
For its part, the Russian army claimed on Wednesday that it had “improved” its positions in the sector. In particular, according to the Russian Telegram channel Rybar, which is close to the army, Moscow’s troops captured a dominant height on the northern flank and entered the village of Stepove, northwest of Avdiivka, where fighting is currently taking place. Several analysts, based on the images and videos of this attack available on social networks, have reported significant Russian losses in military equipment.
According to Vitalii Barabash, this is “the largest offensive against Avdiivka of the war,” with Russian forces attacking “dozens or even hundreds of vehicles.” Avdiivka, built around a large coking plant, is 13 kilometers from the capital Donetsk and is under Russian control. It has been close to the front line since 2014, when the war between the Ukrainian army and Russian-led and armed separatists began following the annexation of the Crimean peninsula.