Russian forces launched a major offensive on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, deploying tanks, thousands of soldiers, and armoured vehicles. Despite their onslaught, Ukrainian military officials have reported that the assault, one of the largest since last year’s invasion, is failing.
Over the past week, Avdiivka, a key enclave surrounded by Russian-held territory, has been under relentless attack. Russian troops, numbering in the thousands, initiated the assault, aiming to encircle the town.
However, Ukrainian forces managed to hold their ground, inflicting significant losses on the Russian side, including 102 tanks, 183 armoured vehicles, and approximately 2,840 troops killed.
Colonel Dmytro Lysyuk, the commander of Ukraine’s 128th separate mountain assault brigade, expressed confidence that the Russian forces would not break Avdiivka’s defences. He criticised Russia’s military strategy, emphasising its ineffectiveness.
He said: “The Russians should have realised this a long time ago. They have not managed to achieve even tactical success.”
He pointed out that General Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s chief of general staff, bore the responsibility. According to Lysyuk, Gerasimov had underestimated Ukraine’s resilience in Avdiivka, a frontline town since 2014 when Moscow seized the nearby city of Donetsk. Lysyuk described it as a significant “intelligence failure” on the part of the Russian military.
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