KYIV Faces Intense Combat as Russian Forces Assault Avdiivka

Ukrainian officials have reported intense combat as Russian forces continue their relentless assault on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka for the fifth consecutive day. City leader Vitalii Barabash revealed that Moscow was deploying additional forces to encircle the strategically important city in the eastern Donetsk region, located just north of the Russian-held regional capital, also called Donetsk.

Barabash stated on Ukrainian television, “The enemy hasn’t stopped either assaulting or shelling positions around Avdiivka.” The city, which had a pre-war population of around 31,000, now only has about 1,600 civilians remaining.

Russian President Vladimir Putin initiated the war against Ukraine in February 2022. The comments from Barabash come after Russia’s U.N. ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, announced in a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday that the intensified attacks in the east marked a new stage in Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine. Nebenzia claimed that “Russian troops have, for several days now, switched over to active combat action practically throughout the entire front line. … The so-called Ukrainian counteroffensive can therefore be considered finished.”

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy previously stated that Ukrainian forces were successfully holding their ground and keeping Russian troops at bay. Donetsk’s acting regional governor, Ihor Moroz, disclosed that 22 civilians had been wounded due to Russian shelling in the region within the previous 24 hours.

Meanwhile, Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s land forces, wrote on Facebook on Saturday that fighting along the northern stretch of Ukraine’s eastern front had “significantly worsened” in recent days. Syrskyi, who visited troops in the area, mentioned that Russian forces had regrouped after sustaining losses and were launching attacks near the village of Makiivka, aiming to encircle the city of Kupiansk and reach the Oskil River.

In Ukraine’s partly-occupied Kherson region, two women aged 60 and 42 were killed in two separate Russian shelling attacks in the city of Beryslav on Saturday.

In Russia, the Defense Ministry announced that air defense systems had successfully shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea near the southern resort city of Sochi on Saturday morning. Additionally, a drone was shot down in the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine during the afternoon, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Ukrainian officials have never taken responsibility for attacks on Russian territory.