‘Fierce’ fighting inside symbolic frontline town — Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine said Friday there was fierce fighting in the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka that has become a main Russian target ahead of the second anniversay of its invasion.
As President Volodymyr Zelensky headed for Berlin and Paris in a new bid to secure desperately needed military aid, Ukrainian generals said there was bitter fighting inside Avdiivka and that their forces were taking up “new positions”.
Zelensky said before leaving that his government would do “everything” to save lives in the symbolic city, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces.
“Fierce battles are taking place within the city,” Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, a Ukrainian general in the east, said on social media.
“Our troops are using all available forces and means to restrain the enemy,” he added.
“New positions have been prepared and powerful fortifications continue to be prepared, taking into account all possible scenarios,” added Tarnavskiy.
Tarnavskiy called the situation in Avdiivka “difficult but controlled” and said commanders have been tasked to “stabilise the situation.”
The Ukrainian military said on its social media that Ukrainian troops were being reinforced and were “standing their ground”.
Russia has been trying to capture Avdiivka for months. Its fall would be a significant symbolic victory for Russia ahead of the Feb 24 anniversary of the start of the invasion.
Ukraine had already announced on Thursday that it was rushing new troops to Avdiivka as the position becomes increasingly perilous.
A Ukrainian army spokesman said the “complicated” operation of bringing in supplies and evacuating the few hundred civilians who remained had started.
The battle for the industrial hub, less than 10 kilometres north of the city of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the two-year war.
Many compare it to the battle for Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. — AFP