KIEV — Ukrainian forces are trying to thwart a new major offensive operation by Russia in the strategic city of Avdiivka.
Russia has sent dozens of tanks, armored vehicles and thousands of troops into the offensive, which began four days ago.
“They are attacking with everything they have. Yesterday a large amount of armor was used and they attacked in columns. The attacks do not stop day and night,” said Vitaly Barabash, head of the Avdiivka junta. He spoke on Ukrainian television.
According to Ukrainian forces on the ground, Russia has also launched small-scale offensive operations across the front lines and stepped up attacks near the city of Kupiansk, which Ukraine liberated last year.
However, the main attack was against Avdiivka, which is of strategic importance to both sides. Avdiivka is located near Donetsk, the capital of the Russian-occupied Donetsk region.
Ukraine heavily fortified the Avdiivka front and built a system of deep trenches and underground bunkers ahead of Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. As a result, Russian forces have barely advanced near the city.
Russia now appears to be attempting to cut off Avdiivka and encircle Ukrainian forces within its defenses.
Oleksiy Dmitrashivsky, chief spokesperson for the Headquarters of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine, told ABC News: “During the entire war, there have been no attacks of this magnitude around Avdiivka, even though they attacked Avdiivka starting in 2014. ” he said.
He said two Russian battalions, about 2,000 troops, supported by dozens of tanks and other armored vehicles, launched attacks from the northwest and southwest. The assault was preceded by heavy artillery and air raids, and the city itself continued to be attacked frequently afterwards.
So far, the Russian attack appears to have been unsuccessful, according to Ukrainian military officials and open source researchers tracking the damage.
At least 40 Russian armored vehicles were lost in two days, Military Administrator Avdiivka Barabash said. Videos of the attack circulating online appear to largely support these claims, with some open source researchers saying 30 to 50 Russian tanks and other vehicles were damaged or destroyed.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces claimed that more than 1,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded since the new offensive operation began.
The Institute for War Studies announced that Russia has managed to capture approximately 4.52 square kilometers of territory from different directions around Avdiivka in the past three days.
“Russian forces have not secured a major breakthrough near Avdiivka as of October 12 and are unlikely to immediately cut off Ukrainian forces in the city,” ISW wrote in an article. daily briefing Thursday.
Ukrainian military officials said that despite heavy casualties on the Ukrainian side, their forces were able to hold the line, inflicting heavy casualties on the Russian attackers.
Despite Russia’s new offensive — whose scale seems to have caught some analysts off guard — it nonetheless appears to indicate Russia’s attempt to regain control of the war. It was important.
“The Russians have already decided that they can launch a counterattack. [the Avdiivka] “They are taking advantage of the fact that the whole world’s attention is focused on events in Israel, and they are starting an active phase along the entire front,” Dmitrashkivsky said.
He said the Russian attack near Avdiivka involved a mix of paratroopers and poorly trained troops, as well as a detachment of prisoners sent into battle, the so-called Storm Z force.
“Their preparation was very weak, and it showed in the loss,” Dmitraszyvskiy said.
He added that the attack was extremely large and required significant efforts by the Ukrainian military to quell it.
Most analysts believe that Russia likely still lacks the manpower to significantly benefit from attacks, including around Avdiivka. But the move shows Russia wants to further blunt Ukraine’s pushback with its own counterpunch as the weather begins to deteriorate.
Ukraine continues its own offensives in the southern Zaporizhzhya region and around the city of Bakhmut, where the focus of the counterattack has been.
