2024-02-14 22:50:47
Ukrainians defending decimated Avdijivka are tired. However, he reportedly feels determined to stand up to the next waves of Russian aggression approaching the city. “The situation is tense but under control,” said the Tavria combat unit covering the area. Russia is now trying to cut off the army from the supply route. According to analysts, this is the main reason why Ukraine still holds the area.
The situation in the Ukrainian Avdijivka is becoming critical for the defenders. The Russians claim to have infiltrated the city. | Video: Reuters
After more than four months of intense Russian attacks on Avdijivka, a strategic industrial city located northwest of Russian-controlled Donetsk, Russia is hardening. “Moscow is sending more and more armored groups to the assault infantry,” Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said of the situation on the ground on Sunday.
Until now, Russia used small groups of two tanks to support the infantry. “However, we expect that the enemy will continue to use tanks more massively – along with an increasing number of attacks,” added Dmytro Lykhovy, a spokesman for the Tavri Defense Forces.
Since October 10, Russia has been redirecting its troops to the offensive campaign on Avdijivka. As a result, the heavily fortified Ukrainian city has turned into a so-called “meat grinder”, as the military refers to the protracted fighting, which costs both armies significant resources and causes high numbers of soldiers to die.
Avdijivka has symbolic and strategic value for Russia. Its loss could weaken the morale of Ukrainian soldiers, which was noticeably affected by the not very successful summer and autumn counter-offensive. Uncertainty in the army of the occupied country is also deepening the future of military aid from the United States.
The fighting for the area has been going on for almost a decade
Moscow has been trying to capture Avdijivka for almost a decade since the start of the Donbas war in 2014. Since then, Ukraine has been building fortifications that have greatly complicated the enemy’s attempts to capture the city by infantry.
The Kremlin began betting on infantry units in the first weeks of fighting for the city, when the army lost many armored vehicles. “To conserve equipment, Moscow decided to switch to infantry-led combat after the first two waves of attacks,” the American Institute for the Study of War said in mid-December.
According to Marina Mironova, a postdoctoral fellow from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, Russia should use mechanized infantry because of Ukraine’s extensive fortifications. “It’s in Moscow’s interest to have armored vehicles and tanks alongside,” she told Newsweek.
For now, Ukraine is managing to keep Avdijivka under control. Western analysts, looking at the careful fortification of the area in the first stages of the Russian offensive, were convinced that Kiev would defend the area. Over time, their attitude changes. Despite heavy losses, Russia advances around the city.
Ukraine has a big advantage in that it has so far defended the main supply route. Highway 00542, which leads to Avdijivka from the west of the city from nearby Orlivka, is essential for maintaining the defense forces of the occupied country. That is why one of Russia’s goals is now to cut off the home army from the route and make it impossible for it to obtain the resources it invests in the defense of the city.
This was also confirmed to the Ukrainian media by the spokesman of the Tavri Defense Forces, Lychovy. He said, among other things, that the Kremlin is now also attacking Ukrainian soldiers in the buildings of the city and is concentrating on its northern part. On Sunday, Russian fighter jets also confirmed the advance in the north and southwest, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment.
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Spotlight News – Tomáš Řepa. | Video: Adéla Očenášková