Russians launch third wave of attack in Avdiivka
The battle for Avdiivka has been raging for weeks and the losses are enormous. According to a telephone conversation with a Russian soldier, the hospitals are overcrowded: "Everyone is lying without arms or legs, some without various body parts." Now Russia is also stepping up its infantry attacks.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, the Russian army has launched the third wave of attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka since October 10. "The third wave has begun," explained Mayor Vitaly Barabash on Ukrainian television. "They are attacking from all sides, using a lot of infantry." The center of the industrial city is being systematically bombarded.
"There are 30 to 40 massive attacks per day in the city," said Barabash. According to him, Russia is attacking Avdiivka with guided bombs and, more recently, with cluster bombs. According to the Telegram account Rybar, which is close to the Russian army, Russian soldiers have also started using the controversial cluster bombs. These would "allow the enemy's offensives to be repelled with even greater success".
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In the battle for Avdiivka, however, the Russian troops are apparently suffering such heavy losses that the hospitals are already overcrowded. At least that's according to a report in the Kyiv Post, which refers to a call from a Russian soldier intercepted by the secret service. "There are a lot of people, and the wounded are being brought here literally every day in trucks," the soldier says in the call. "Also many dead. I'm in a civilian hospital because the military hospital is overcrowded - three floors packed."
And it continues: "Everyone is lying without arms or legs, some without different body parts." Most of the wounded were brought from Avdiivka. Although the authenticity of the call has not been confirmed, Ukrainian as well as Russian and independent sources state that Russia is currently suffering enormous losses and the daily rate of soldiers killed is at an all-time high.
City almost completely surrounded
With the exception of one access road, the city in the Donetsk region has been almost completely surrounded by Russian troops for more than a month. It is under constant attack by the Russian army, which has been trying to take control of the city for years. According to the Ukraine, Russia wants to capture a large coking plant in particular.
The Ukrainian troops have entrenched themselves behind solid fortifications. In the past four weeks, they have had to surrender a small area, but so far the defenses have seemed to hold out against the Russian troops.
Avdiivka has been contested since the beginning of the conflict with Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. In July 2014, it was briefly in the hands of pro-Russian separatists armed by Moscow before being recaptured by Ukraine. Since then, the largely destroyed city has been located on the front line in eastern Ukraine and has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
According to the city administration, around 1,350 people still live in the industrial city, compared to more than 30,000 before the start of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.
Source: www.ntv.de
