The city’s mayor says that the Russian army is returning to the offensive in the Avdiyivka sector.
The Russian military has launched its third wave of attacks since Oct. 10 in eastern Ukraine’s Avtivka, systematically bombing its center, its mayor, Vitaly Barabash, announced on Friday.
For more than a month, it has virtually surrounded the industrial city, but is still served by an asphalt road, facing relentless attacks by Moscow’s forces, which have tried to capture it for years.
“The Third Wave [d’assauts] started”On Ukrainian television, Mr. Barabash announced, reporting the attacks “every side” : Spartak, a village located between Avdiivka and Donetsk, the capital of the region of the same name occupied by the Russians, on its southern and northern sides, towards the industrial zone. The latter especially want to seize a coking plant, which they consider strategic, according to Ukraine.
Avdiivka fell to pro-Russian separatists armed by Moscow in July 2014, before returning to Ukrainian control. Since then, the largely destroyed city, representing the front line in the region, has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
Ukrainian forces, behind fortified fortifications, have had to give up some ground over the past month, but the defenses appear to be holding up. “In the city, there are 30 to 40 mass strikes per day”A pursuiti Vitalii Barabash.
The Russian military, which he said uses guided bombs, has recently begun using cluster munitions, which fire small explosives randomly over a wide area.
Mr. According to Barabash, despite the fighting and bombings, 1,350 people still live in Avdiivka, compared to about 30,000 people in the city before the war.
read more: Ukraine was surprised by the Russian counterattack at Avdiivka
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