The FINANCIAL — The Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, under constant Russian fire, has experienced fewer ground attacks in the past 24 hours due to heavy Russian losses and harsh weather, the mayor said on Sunday.
For nearly two months, Russia has been trying to seize Avdiivka, an industrial town near Donetsk that has become one of the most contended points on the frontline.
Russian soldiers are now on the east, north and south of the town, which is largely in ruins. It is nearly surrounded but is still served by a tarmac road.
Ukraine says its soldiers are holding firm and repelling the attacks.
“Over the past 24 hours, the number of (ground) attacks has decreased,” Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the city’s military administration, told the Ukrainian broadcaster Freedom.
He said this was due to three factors – difficult “weather conditions”, “large losses in both (Russian) and manpower” and the fact that the Russian army was “running out of steam”.
“There are fewer and fewer (Russian) people willing to go on assaults voluntarily, and there are more and more refuseniks,” Barabash said.
AFP has been unable to independently confirm his comments.
Avdiivka is a strategic location in the heart of the Donetsk region, Ukraine, near Donetsk, the region’s principal city. Avdiivka has been at the front lines of the Russo-Ukrainian War since 2015.
In 2017 the battle of Avdiivka resulted in destruction in the town, though Ukrainian forces maintained control of the city.
On 3 November, Ukraine’s General Staff said it repelled 17 attacks on and near Avdiivka, while Avdiivka mayor Vitalii Barabash, citing audio transmission intercepts, said the Russians were aiming to capture the fortified coke plant during the battle, as it controls Avdiivka’s northern flank. The ISW assessed that between 3-4 November Russian troops had reached the railway tracks north of the plant, consolidating positions as they further approached Stepove village from the east. Russian sources also claimed that an irregular Russian formation named “Dikiya Divisiya” dug a 160-meter-long tunnel underneath an unspecified Ukrainian position and detonated explosives.
On 7-8 November, Russian forces reportedly advanced along the Stepove railway and along Avdiivka’s southern flank. Meanwhile, Mayor Barabash said Ukrainian defenders were bracing for a “third wave” of Russian assaults along the eastern axis.
On 10 November, geolocated footage showed that Russian forces had entered eastern Stepove amid heavy Ukrainian resistance. On 13 November, Russian troops advanced in the Avdiivka industrial zone near Yasnynuvata Lane on the city’s southern flank, an important frontline fortified area held by Ukraine since 2014.
Russian sources claimed that by 25 November most or all of the southern industrial zone had been captured.
On 28 November, Russian forces were reportedly advancing upon Avdiivka on “all sides” as ongoing heavy fighting over the Avdiivka Coke Plant was reported.
On 10 November, Ukrainian C-in-C Valerii Zaluzhnyi claimed that his troops had killed 10,000 Russians and destroyed 100 tanks, 250 armored vehicles, 50-100 artillery pieces and seven Su-25 planes. Colonel Shuptun, meanwhile, claimed that Russian casualties average between 400 and 600 casualties per day.
fter Russia renewed its assault on Avdiivka in October 2023, their spearheading assault force reportedly sustained significant losses in personnel and equipment on the northern flank near Krasnohorivka. On 26 October 2023, the Institute for the Study of War assessed that Russia’s reported losses around Avdiivka in late October had surpassed the infamous losses in armored vehicles during the battle of Vuhledar. The same day, jailed pro-war Russian nationalist and frequent Putin critic Igor Girkin harshly criticized the offensive capabilities of Russian forces in the battle, arguing they were not able to achieve even limited objectives in favorable conditions without suffering significant casualties.
According to the ISW, several Russian milbloggers proclaimed in early November 2023 that the ongoing battle was already an operational success because it reduced the intensity of Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk city.
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