2023-10-20 18:05:00
Ukraine said on Friday that it had repelled a new Russian assault on the town of Avdiïvka, an industrial city in the east of its territory targeted in recent weeks by intense Russian attacks, while ensuring that it had inflicted “catastrophic losses” to the opponent.
“The enemy has repeated its attacks and is not abandoning its attempts to surround Avdiivka,” the Ukrainian army general staff said in its morning report on Facebook.
“Our soldiers firmly hold the defense lines,” he continued, affirming that the Russian army lost around 900 men – killed or wounded – and 150 armored vehicles – knocked out of action – in this area in 24 hours.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on
Tense situation”
The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration Andriï Iermak, for his part, released a photo of a burned armored vehicle and what looks like a body whose image is blurred. “Avdiivka. Our warriors destroy the Russians who try to attack from the flanks,” he wrote on Telegram.
The Russian Defense Ministry made no comment on the city in its daily report, but a Russian military blogger reported a “tense” situation.
“The Russian troops managed to occupy a very important position”, however the Ukrainians “managed to counterattack” near the town of Berdytchi, northwest of Avdiïvka, and to “repel assault units towards a railway line”, wrote the Telegram channel Rybar on Friday, close to the Russian army and followed by more than 1.2 million people.
“South of Avdiivka, Russian assault units were able to expand the area of their control” but “the situation remains tense” while the Ukrainian army sends reinforcements there and “prepares for counter-offensive attempts “Russians, said the same channel Thursday evening.
Armored vehicles, planes and cannons
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces Valery Zalouzhny, for his part, said Thursday evening on Telegram that he had visited Avdiivka where “the adversary is not giving up its attempts to break through our defense.” He said he had discussed tactics and the “priority needs” of the units deployed there with the command.
In a video he released, we can see the general outside, with a helmet and a bulletproof vest, then in a command post in a shelter, talking with the soldiers who told him in particular about having shot a Russian Su-25 ground attack aircraft.
“The enemy actively uses assault units, launches a large number of armored vehicles and resorts to aviation and artillery,” wrote General Zaluzhny.
Russian troops launched their previous assault on Avdiivka on October 10, but this first attempt resulted in heavy losses.
Almost located on the front line since 2014, this city is 13 km north of Donetsk, the capital, under Moscow control, of the eponymous region whose annexation Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed a year ago .
Built around a huge coking plant, which employed up to 4,000 people, Avdiïvka still has some 1,600 inhabitants, compared to 30,000 before the war, according to its town hall.
20/10/2023 18:04:10 – Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
#Ukraine #repelled #Russian #assault #Avdiivka