Kyiv complains about “difficult situation”
Russia reports seizure of Avdiivka’s coke factory
February 19, 2024, 10:12 a.m
Before the war, the Avdiivka coking plant was one of the largest in Europe. Now it – or what’s left of it – is falling into Russian hands. The Ukrainian General Staff complains about the difficult situation in the south and east. There are said to be dozens of battles on various sectors of the front.
In Avdiivka, Russian troops say they have taken the rest of the city in eastern Ukraine, which has been fought over for months. The sprawling coke and chemical factory complex is under complete control, Russian news agencies report. Russia had already reported the capture of most of the city on Sunday. According to Kiev, the last Ukrainian soldier left the city early Saturday evening.
The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s greatest success since the capture of the eastern city of Bakhmut in May 2023 in the almost two-year war with Ukraine. On Saturday, the new army chief Olexandr Syrskyj announced that the Ukrainians had retreated to positions outside the city to avoid being encircled. Avdiivka is located in the Donbass industrial region, 15 kilometers north of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. Before the war, the Soviet-era coking plant was one of the largest in Europe.
“The operational situation in eastern and southern Ukraine remains difficult,” wrote the General Staff in Kiev on its Facebook page on Sunday. A total of 56 battles were registered on various sectors of the front. During the course of the Russian attacks, residential areas also came under artillery and rocket fire. There were deaths and injuries among the civilian population. There was particularly heavy fighting south of Zaporizhia in the central sector of the front. There, seven Russian attacks supported by fighter jets were repelled.
At the same time, there are reports of new atrocities by the Russian army. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office responsible for the Donetsk region opened an investigation on Sunday after six wounded Ukrainian soldiers who could not be taken with them during the retreat were said to have been killed when captured by Russian soldiers.
As the investigators further announced on Telegram, they relied on video footage of the alleged crime recorded by drones. “Since the occupier does not want to let the prisoners live, he deliberately kills them with automatic weapons,” it said. The information cannot yet be independently verified.