“Pressure from all sides”
The situation of Avdiivka’s defenders is coming to a head
February 8, 2024, 4:22 p.m
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Ukrainian troops have been holding Avdiivka against Russian attacks for months. But the pressure is increasing. The city’s mayor reports difficult fighting. According to Russian information, Moscow’s troops are targeting the defenders’ communications system.
According to the local government, the situation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which has been under dispute for months, is becoming increasingly difficult. “The enemy is exerting pressure from all sides,” Mayor Vitali Barabash said on Ukrainian television. He spoke of a “very large” number of Russian soldiers taking part in the attempted storming of the city. “There is not a single part of our city that is more or less quiet.” According to Barabash, 941 people now live in Avdiivka, compared to 32,000 before the Russian invasion. The fighting was “very heated” and “very difficult.” The situation is sometimes “simply unreal”.
The Ukrainian military said in its daily situation report that it had repelled 40 enemy attacks near Avdiivka in the past 24 hours. General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, commander of the Tavria operational group, reported the shooting down of a Russian attack helicopter near the city. A portable anti-aircraft missile was used. A Ka-52 Alligator attack helicopter, one of the most lethal weapons in the Russian Air Force, was hit.
Meanwhile, the Russian newspaper Pravda reported that the Russian army was trying to cut off a key Ukrainian logistical supply route about six kilometers from Avdiivka. The Russian military used electronic warfare to shut down Tesla boss Elon Musk’s Starlink communications system, which Ukrainian troops use to communicate, the paper wrote.
Russia has seized the initiative on the front in the Donbass industrial region and has been trying to encircle Avdiivka since October. The government in Moscow would probably celebrate a conquest of the city before the presidential election in March as a great success. President Vladimir Putin’s election victory is considered certain.