Kiev (Reuters) – The battle for the front-line town of Avdiivka continues to rage in eastern Ukraine.
The presidential office in Kiev reported heavy fighting on Friday. Despite “difficult battles” and although Russia has significantly increased its troops, the Ukrainian armed forces held their positions. Further details were not initially known.
Avdiivka has become a symbol of resistance in the war that has been raging since February 2022. The place is not far from the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk and is therefore in a region that Russia actually claims as its own but does not fully control to this day. After months of siege, Russian troops began attacking Avdiivka this week. It is one of the few offensives by Russian troops in months, the focus of which has recently been on slowing down a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukrainian authorities also reported a Russian attack on the city of Pokrovsk, which is also in the Donetsk region. One person was killed and 13 others were injured. According to rescue workers, two administrative buildings were damaged. Three people were pulled out of the rubble alive. The Interior Ministry said that, according to preliminary findings, Russia had used two Iskander-M missiles.
The information could not be independently verified.
(Report by Anna Pruchnicka, written by Christian Rüttger, edited by Kerstin Dörr. If you have any questions, please contact our editorial team at [email protected] (for politics and the economy) or [email protected] (for companies and markets).)