Kyiv: Russia is trying to surround Avdiivka

KYIV: Kyiv reported “heated” fighting around its eastern city of Avdiivka Saturday, saying Russian forces had “not stopped assaulting” the symbolic industrial hub for days in their attempt to surround it. Ukraine last week said Russia had stepped up assaults on the frontline city, which lies just 15km from Moscow-held Donetsk.

Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists. Russian forces now control territory to the east, north and south of Avdiivka. “For the fifth day already, the enemy has not stopped either assaulting or shelling positions around the city,” Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the city, said on Ukrainian television.

“It is very heated, very heated,” he said of the fighting.
“They are trying to surround the city,” Barabash ad ded, claiming that Moscow was deploying “more new forces” to the area. He described intense battles: “There is certainly no silence there at all. Shooting battles continue, both from the north and from the south of the city.”