Advance into eastern Ukraine
Russia announces capture of village near Avdiivka
April 28, 2024, 2:30 p.m
In February, Russia takes control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after long fighting. Since then, the Russian offensive has gained momentum, and now another success has been achieved. Ukrainian military bloggers blame the leadership of a locally stationed brigade for this.
Russia says it has captured another village in eastern Ukraine. The Russian army has “liberated” the village of Novobachmutivka around ten kilometers northwest of the city of Avdiivka, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said in its daily situation report from the front.
Russia took complete control of the city of Avdiivka in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk in February after long fighting. Afterwards, the Russian army continued to quickly gain ground, while the Ukrainian army was on the defensive due to a lack of ammunition and soldiers.
Novobachmutivka is located near the town of Ocherytne, which the Russian army invaded this week. According to observers, it currently controls a large part of the village.
Criticism of the Ukrainian brigade
This sparked criticism from Ukrainian military bloggers. The Telegram channel “DeepState”, which is close to the Ukrainian army and has more than 700,000 subscribers, accused the leadership of the locally stationed 115th motorized brigade of being responsible for the “collapse of defense throughout the region” and thus to have incurred “significant losses”.
The Ukrainian military is currently in a precarious situation. The head of Ukrainian military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, said during the week that he expected further deterioration in mid-May and early June. “We think that a rather difficult situation awaits us in the near future,” he said in an interview.
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Olexander Syrksy, also admitted in mid-April that the situation on the Eastern Front had “deteriorated significantly.” On Saturday he repeated his assessment: The situation has a tendency to worsen, the commander said on Telegram. He and other participants from Kiev informed the Western allies about this at the virtual meeting of the US-led Ukraine contact group the day before.