The Russian army is doing the rest on the outskirts of Donetsk, where it is trying to surround the Ukrainian forces in the town of Avdivka by all means, in one of the most important battles of this war.
“It is a key battle in this war. There have been many, but I think this is one of the most important. In my view, it is Russia’s last attempt to seize the initiative on the front,” said Mikhailo Podoliak, advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine, to the UNIAN agency.
The “active defense”, as defined by Russian President Vladimir Putin, has turned into a general offensive in Avdivka, which for the moment has not been able to overcome the fortifications built by the Ukrainians over the last eight years.
The arrival of autumn, accompanied by rain and humidity, makes the advance of the motorized brigades difficult, which facilitates the defensive work of the Ukrainians in Donetsk, so time is against the Russians.
Although in the first attacks it suffered “large losses” in soldiers and equipment, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) assures this Monday in its report that Moscow continues to send reinforcements to the area.
“The fighting in Avdivka is extremely tough. The number of victims on the Russian side exceeds anything imaginable, as does the amount of weapons that are being destroyed,” Podoliak noted.
The head of the Ukrainian military administration in the area, Vitali Barabash, highlighted that “the Russians are mobilizing large infantry and armor forces.”
“The losses are brutal, but that doesn’t stop them. The assault continues. They advance like crazy, they fall by the dozens and after a while they come back. There are many,” he commented.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Russians are digging tunnels almost 100 meters long to avoid detection.
However, Russian military bloggers admit that the Ukrainian minefields are currently impenetrable for Russian units.
The Ukrainian General Staff, which estimates Russian attacks at twenty, admits in its part that “the enemy continues to try to surround Avdivka, but the Ukrainian defenders continue to keep them at bay and inflict heavy casualties on the enemy.”
Russian artillery and drones are intensively bombarding “day and night” the only road that connects Avdivka with the rest of the territory controlled by Kiev, Barabash explained today in an interview with the Ukrainian-language service of Radio Freedom.
“Of course, the enemy is trying to cut it. Logistics is a big problem,” he acknowledged and explained that more than twenty kilometers of highway are constantly “under Russian fire.”
This situation, he added, “enormously complicates evacuations and the provision of humanitarian aid.”
As of today, according to kyiv, there are 1,601 inhabitants in Avdivka of the more than 31,000 who resided in that town in February 2022.
In his address to the nation, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, praised “the exemplary defense” in Avdivka, Marinka and other places on the front, but called for continued progress.
“Every day we need results for Ukraine, to resist the Russian assaults, eliminate the occupiers and advance. Be it a kilometer or 500 meters, but advance every day, to improve the Ukrainian positions,” he assured.
Zelensky insisted that this tactic “motivates the whole world” to help Ukraine.
Along the same lines, Podoliak assured that Moscow tries to “tie up our reserves with important combats so that we stop our offensive in other directions.” “It’s a tactical ruse that won’t work,” he said.
He stressed that Moscow is aware that with the arrival of long-range missiles (ATACMS) and the landing next year of the F-162 fighters, provided by the West, “it will not have another opportunity to resume the initiative.”
