According to Ukrainian officials, Russia recently sent additional troops and equipment to Avdiivka in preparation for the largest attack on the city since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that 10 attacks on Avdiivka were repelled on Wednesday. .
The city has already suffered severe damage due to Russian bombing. Before the invasion, about 30,000 people lived in Avdiivka. Now there will be fewer than 2,000. Avdiivka is located in the Donetsk region and about 90 kilometers southwest of the hotly contested city of Bakhmut. Russia occupied that city in May, partly due to the deployment of the Wagner Group’s mercenary army.
Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive in June with two main goals: securing the areas around Bakhmut in order to reclaim that city and reclaiming the south towards the Sea of Azov. President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials acknowledge that the counterattack is not achieving the desired progress.
