The situation remains “tense” this Saturday in Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine that for several days has been the target of a major offensive by Russian forces, who are once again trying to “surround” it, according to its mayor Vitaly Barabach.
Avdiivka, 13 km north of Donetsk, under Russian control, briefly fell to pro-Russian separatists armed and backed by Moscow in July 2014, before returning to Ukrainian control. Since then, it has marked the front line in this area and was already being bombed regularly even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The situation there is “very tense; for five days now, the enemy has not stopped attacking or shelling positions around the city,” Barabach told Ukrainian television on Saturday.
The Russians’ goal is to “surround the city,” the official laments, adding that Moscow’s army was “deploying more and more troops” to take down Avdiivka.
Last night was, however, “the first night” in recent days in which “there have been no (Russian) rocket attacks on the city,” which is now largely destroyed, he adds.
Since then, however, “shooting has continued from the north and south of the city.” According to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, Russia completely “destroyed” a “five-story building” in an airstrike on Friday night.
“A man is probably under the rubble, (but) it is currently impossible to remove the body,” the ministry adds on Telegram, accompanying its message with photos of a ruined building. Police are asking residents to evacuate.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured on Thursday that his Army remained “firm” and resisted the Russian assault, while Russian troops assured that they had “improved” their positions in the area in recent days.
According to the mayor, 1,622 civilians remain in Avdiïvka and evacuations are difficult due to constant shelling. Before the Russian invasion, the city had 30,000 inhabitants.
