Russian superiority on the ground and in the air is driving Ukrainian soldiers to exhaustion, EL PAÍS reports.
Ukrainian soldiers are attempting to protect the railway tracks in the northern part of Avdiivka, an elevated area that allows to control enemy moves. More than 30,000 people used to live in Avdiivka before the outbreak of war in Ukraine, but now less than two thousand remain.
If the Russians take control of these roads, it will be a catastrophe.
The Russian advance is centred around the coke plant, the largest facility for the production of this kind of fuel in Europe. If Russians gain dominance on the roads, they will be able to ensure the advance of their troops to encircle Avdiivka from the north.
The bulk of Ukraine’s 47th Mechanised Brigade was moved to Avdiivka in mid-October as fighting in the area intensified. The brigade suffered its biggest losses in the first three months of the counter-offensive, when Russian minefields and reinforced fortifications slowed the advance while artillery and drones destroyed equipment and troops.
Military sources reported that the 47th Brigade lost more than 30 per cent of its troops during the counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia direction, about two thousand out of five thousand soldiers.
They note that defence is morally harder than attack, so the situation in Avdiivka, when the Russian troops intensified their advance, significantly undermines the chances of the Ukrainian troops.
