KYIV (Reuters) – Outnumbered Ukrainian defenders were fighting fierce battles inside the small eastern city of Avdiivka on Friday, commanders said, as Russian forces closed in on the strategic location ahead of their invasion’s two-year mark.
“The pressure is permanent,” said Rodion Kudriashov, deputy commander of the elite Third Separate Assault Brigade, describing Russian assaults round the clock with some Ukrainian units forced to hold “a defence of 360 degrees”.
Russia has been trying to encircle and capture Avdiivka since late last year and Kyiv’s foothold in the town appears increasingly shaky, with supply lines threatened and the pre-war population of about 32,000 residents now fewer than 1,000.
Capturing the city is key to Russia’s aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region, and could hand President Vladimir Putin a battlefield victory to hold up to voters as he seeks re-election next month.
Kyiv said on Thursday it was withdrawing some troops in Avdiivka to better positions after months of fighting, though also sending in battle-hardened soldiers from the elite assault brigade.
Kudriashov told Ukrainian TV that local troops were heavily outnumbered as Russian forces poured in armour and artillery fire and sought to circumvent some of the defenders’ positions but without success.
Another brigade commander, Maksym Zhorin, said Russia was dropping between 60 and 80 highly destructive guided bombs per day. “All buildings (and) structures are simply turned into a ditch after a strike by just one guided bomb,” he wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
Russian-backed officials have described Avdiivka as a “fortress” with concrete bunkers and Putin underlined its significance last month.
Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the commander of Ukraine’s southeastern sector, said overnight the situation in Avdiivka was “difficult but under control”, and that more ammunition and supplies were being sent to newly-reinforced positions.
“We value every piece of Ukrainian land, but the highest value and priority for us is the preservation of the life of a Ukrainian soldier,” he added on the Telegram messaging app.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk and Olena Harmash; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
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