2023-11-29 21:34:53
The Russian army increases pressure in eastern Ukraine, encouraged by the conquest, this Wednesday (29), of a village near Bakhmut and close to Avdiivka, among its few advances on this front.
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which began this summer, has stalled in the south and east, without significant progress. And since the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, Russian forces have demonstrated with their attacks that they still have the resources to advance.
For almost two months, the Russians have been trying to take Avdiivka, an industrial town in the suburbs of Donetsk, briefly taken by pro-Russian separatists in 2014.
Russian soldiers surround Avdiivka on three flanks in the east, north and south.
In this almost ruined city, there are 1,350 inhabitants left, from the almost 30,000 it had before the war.
Since it was briefly taken over by pro-Russian separatists in 2014, Avdiivka has marked the front line in this region.
“In recent days, the enemy has considerably intensified its activity. It uses armored vehicles”, declared, this Wednesday, Oleksandr Tarnavski, Ukrainian commander responsible for the region.
According to the military, Russian troops launched around 20 bombers, in which they fired four missiles and more than 1,000 shells, with 56 waves of attacks against Ukrainian positions.
However, Tarnavsk claimed that Ukrainian forces “firmly control the line along the Avdiivka front,” a claim that AFP could not independently verify.
– “Time plays against” Ukraine –
“Russia also has unlimited human resources, which it uses mercilessly to carry out wave attacks”, assured, in turn, the advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, Mikhailo Podoliak.
The senior official assessed that “time is now playing against” Ukraine and its Western allies, who are busy, according to him, “with bureaucratic procedures”.
The Ukrainians also defend a strip around eight kilometers northwest of Avdiivka, which is home to Ukraine’s largest coal factory.
Further north on the front, about 60 km as the crow flies, Russia claimed, on Wednesday, to have taken a village near Bakhmut, a city that came under Moscow’s control in May thanks to the intervention of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner, following a intense battle that lasted more than nine months.
“Supported by aviation and artillery”, Russian units “liberated the town of Artiomovskoye”, in the Donetsk region, the Ministry of Defense said in a note, using the Russian name of the city of Khromove.
AFP was unable to verify these claims with independent sources.
– Largely frozen front –
According to satellite images, the village of Khromove had, before the Russian offensive, few streets and dozens of houses.
Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said in May that Bakhmut’s conquest would allow Moscow to make new advances.
However, since then, Russian forces have been unable to make significant advances.
Russian bombings continue more or less throughout Ukraine.
A 68-year-old man died on Wednesday afternoon in an attack on the outskirts of Kherson, in southern Ukraine, according to Roman Mrochko, head of the local military administration.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced in the morning that it had shot down 21 explosive drones and two Russian missiles at night.
Overall, the front line has changed little since Russian soldiers liberated Kherson on November 11, 2022.
Despite Western military aid, the Ukrainian offensive in the middle of this year failed due to the solidity of Russian defense lines.
The Russian army is also not advancing, despite the budget dedicated to the war. However, it has stopped retreating and controls around 20% of Ukrainian territory.
Ukrainian authorities fear that if the war comes to a standstill for an extended period of time, foreign aid will fall.
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