According to Ukraine’s military, Russian attacks across different sectors of the war have been repelled, and they are preparing for a fresh attempt to capture the key frontline eastern town of Avdiivka.
Russia is engaged in a slow-moving campaign in the eastern areas of the 1,000-km front line, following its failed attempt to march on Kyiv in the early stages of the conflict. Ukraine has only made limited progress in its counteroffensive launched in the east and south in June.
The Ukraine’s General Staff reported that its forces repelled 15 attacks near Kupiansk in the northeast and 18 attacks near Maryinka further south, where battles have been ongoing for months.
Additionally, nine attacks were repelled near Avdiivka, where Moscow launched the latest of several drives in mid-October.
According to Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration, several days of rain have temporarily ruled out any new Russian advance – what he described as the “third wave”.
Barabash stated, “We’ve had nearly a week of heavy rain. The terrain is too difficult and equipment cannot move.”
Russian troops have targeted the town’s vast coking plant with artillery for the past week.
The last 16 workers keeping the plant operating were finally evacuated, and only two doctors and four nurses remained in what was a town of 32,000 before Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Barabash referred to these remaining workers as “our city’s angels”. He mentioned that Avdiivka has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance and is seen as a gateway if Ukraine is to retake main areas in the east, including the town of Donetsk, 20 km away.
The town was briefly occupied when Russian-backed separatists seized large areas of eastern Ukraine in 2014, but it was retaken by Ukrainian forces, who then built substantial fortifications around it.
According to Russian accounts of the fighting, Moscow’s troops launched strikes on Ukrainian men and equipment in villages near the eastern town of Bakhmut, seized by Russian forces last May.
Reuters stated that they could not independently confirm battlefield accounts made by either side. (Reporting by Ron Popeski and Nick Starkov; Writing by Ron Popeski; Editing by Lincoln Feast)
