Russian forces, their numbers swelled by reserves, tightened their vise around the shattered eastern city of Avdiivka, but Ukrainian forces are holding defensive lines, Ukrainian military officials said.
The Russian military has focused on eastern Ukraine after failing to advance on Kyiv in the early days of Russia’s February 2022 invasion and their troops have been pounding Avdiivka since mid-October. Online videos show apartment buildings reduced to shells, with 1,500 of its 32,000 pre-war residents remaining.
Anton Kotsukon, spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanised brigade, said Russian forces were massed on three sides of the town. “They are building up reserves. They’ve brought in about 40,000 men here along with ammunition of all calibres,” Kotsukon told national television. “We see no sign of the Russians abandoning plans to encircle Avdiivka.”
Russian forces, he said, were “playing cat and mouse”, sending up “huge numbers” of drones while deploying artillery forces to secure a better picture of the town’s defences. General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, head of Ukraine’s southern group of forces, said troops around Avdiivka were “stoutly holding their defences”.
Avdiivka has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance. It was seized briefly in 2014 when Russian-backed separatists captured chunks of eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian troops retook it and built up fortifications.—INP
