The Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, the other “fortress” that Russia is trying to surround
“When I saw it, I was amazed,” exclaims Nadejda, 70, in front of a Russian-bombed 15-story building in Avdiivka, a city Moscow troops are trying to encircle in eastern Ukraine. The town, located about 60 km south of Bakhmut, is another “fortress” of the Donbas basin and has been bombarded for months. “Every day that passes it looks like (Bakhmut), with its bombardments and missiles,” says the old woman, as she walks back home with bags of food aid. Russian forces are trying to take this town located on the front line from 2014, when the war between Kiev troops and pro-Russian separatists began. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the city had about 30,000 inhabitants. After a year of conflict, only 2,300 remain. Of them, 1,960 receive humanitarian aid, according to Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the local military administration: “Over the last three weeks, with the help of the police and volunteers, we evacuated about 150 people (…). We had 47 children in the city, today there are only eight left,” he told AFP.