Russians are trying to encircle Avdiivka, and put it into the ‘cauldron’.
While the eyes of the world are fixated on the middle east, back in Ukraine the Russian Federation forces have gone on the offensive in some sector of the long line of contact.
Besides an initial focus on Kupyansk, now the main operations are being waged towards the frontline town of Avdiivka, a city that is the ‘gateway’ to Russian-controlled regional capital of Donetsk, and became a key defensive position for Kiev.
The Russians intensified their assault on the area with aircraft, heavy artillery bombardment and tanks, in one of the heaviest assaults in months, gaining terrain both to the north and to the south of the city.
The New York Times reported:
“’Our Avdiivka is under massive attacks by Russian artillery and aviation’, Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said on Tuesday in a post on the Telegram messaging service, which included a photo of a building reduced to rubble.
Mykola Bielieskov, a military analyst at the National Institute for Strategic Studies, a Ukrainian government research group, said in an interview that “the scale of the recent attacks is unprecedented” in Avdiivka. He compared it to the fighting that took place there more than half a year ago, when Russia relentlessly shelled the town, turning it into a wasteland.”
As the Ukrainian counteroffensive petered out, Russian forces started to probe the frontline for weaknesses.
Attacks this year have mostly taken place along Ukraine’s northeastern front line, especially near Kupyansk, further to the north.
Russian forces have reportedly broken through several Ukrainian defensive positions near villages surrounding Avdiivka, as they attempt to encircle the town.
“’Avdiivka is a very important strong point in the Ukrainian system of defense’, Mr. Bielieskov said, noting that Russian forces had repeatedly tried to seize the town. Its capture, he added, could compromise Ukraine’s defensive positions in the east, because the town has road connections to two key cities in the area, Pokrovsk and Kostiantynivka.”
15 miles or so from Donetsk, the town has a considerable contingent of Ukrainian forces dug into trenches.
“The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, said on Tuesday that a successful encirclement ‘would very likely require more forces than Russia has currently dedicated’ to its offensive efforts there.”
The Avdiivka attack has proceeded nonstop for two days, and ‘fires are burning throughout the shattered remnants of the city’.
The city had a population of 32,000, but only some 1,700 civilians remain.
Politico reported:
“’The situation is difficult. Intense fighting continues for the second day. The encirclement threat has existed for almost a year, but our forces keep holding defense lines’, Vitalli Barabash, Adviivka military administration head, told POLITICO in a quick message from the frontline.
Ukrainian soldiers on that part of the front are reporting intense fighting in Avdiivka and its outskirts. “I do not understand the situation in other areas of the front, except for Donetsk. But I will say that our enemy has actively gone on the offensive. With equipment and assaults. Especially in the Avdiivka direction. We again need the maximum support of all the people,” Sergeant Egor Firsov said in a Facebook post.”
The Ukrainian military has had to shift resources away from the southern front to shore up its position in the east of the country.
Andriy Kovalyov, spokesperson of the Ukrainian general staff: “Russians have been searching weak spots in our defense lines for months. Now they are concentrating on Avdiivka to force us to draw our forces from the Melitopol offensive.”
Besides the bombardment on the coke plant where the enemy is located, more than 15 enemy strongholds have been occupied, both on the southern and northern flank.
Alexander Khodakovsky, Deputy Head of the Russian Guard for Donetsk: “Over the past 24 hours, we have managed to worsen the enemy’s position in Avdeevka and reached the lines from which we can control the communication of the Avdeevka garrison with the rest of the group. The situation is developing, our fighters have success and as few losses as possible.”