2023-11-16 13:34:30
The Russian army increases its pressure on the disputed town of Avdiïvka, which marks the front line in the East
The Russian army has stepped up its assault on Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, in recent days, its mayor, Vitalii Barabash, said on Thursday. Populated by 35,000 inhabitants before the war, this city has been disputed for almost a decade. In 2014, the pro-Russian militias of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” even occupied it for a few months, before it returned to Ukrainian control. Since then, it has marked the front line in the East.
The situation there “is very tense”Mr. Barabash said on Ukrainian television. “The enemy has become more active, mainly in the direction of [la zone industrielle]carrying out offensive actions using armored vehicles », he continued. Russian forces “attack on the flanks, from the south, a little less from the north”with the help of the infantry, “almost twenty-four hours a day”all in “strike positions around the city”.
Moscow launched a major offensive in early October aimed at encircling and then conquering Avdiivka, at the cost of heavy losses, according to experts and open-source intelligence analysts. Gradually, however, the Russian army managed to advance to the north, especially, and to the south of the city. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, assured Tuesday that his men “held their positions”.
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