Ukrainian Chief of Staff: Russia suffers enormous losses in its Avdiivka offensive
Almost simultaneously with the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Russian army intensified its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine. And it seems that after the capture of Bakhmut, which lasted almost a year, the next fixation point for Russia became the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. Starting in the spring with intensive shelling of the populated area, Russia is once again trying to encircle and capture the town in the fall.
Active fighting in this direction has been going on for a month now, but without significant success. According to the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, the Russian army lost about ten thousand soldiers in their attacks on Avdiivka. In addition, Ukrainian forces have destroyed over 100 Russian tanks, 250 other armored vehicles, about 50 artillery systems, and seven Su-25 aircraft over the course of a month.
Sergey Volkov, a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, also told the Ukrainian news agency Unian about the situation on this front.
"Currently, a decrease in the intensity of enemy assault actions is being observed in the Avdiivka direction. The enemy is consolidating and bringing in new reserves. They are regrouping closer to the railway," he said.
According to the American Institute for the Study of War, the main battles in the Avdiivka direction are taking place around the settlements of Stepne, Berdychiv, and Severne. Analysts believe that Russian troops will try to occupy Avdiivka until they achieve their goals. They need to show some military successes that the Kremlin can use during the presidential campaign leading up to the elections.