Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday that Russian forces have made gains in an offensive in eastern Ukraine, including in Avdiivka, a landmark industrial centre where fierce fighting is taking place.
“Our troops are improving their position in almost all of this area, which is quite vast,” he said in an interview with Russian television. “This concerns the areas of Kupiansk, Zaporizhzhia and Avdiivka,” Putin said, praising the army’s “active defence strategy”.
On Saturday, Kyiv reported “very heated” fighting near Avdiivka, saying Russian forces ” not stopped assaultingt” for several days in an attempt to encircle it.
Ukraine said last week that Russia had stepped up its offensive on the frontline town, just 15 kilometres from Moscow-controlled Donetsk.
Russian forces now control territory east, north and south of Avdiivka in an attempt to push Ukrainian forces further away from Donetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv was holding its ground in Avdiivka, but Moscow has previously claimed that its position there has improved.
The intensified Russian offensive on Avdiivka comes after four months of a slower-than-expected counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces.
Putin reiterated on Sunday that the counter-offensive had “totally failed”.
“We know that in some combat zones, the enemy is preparing new offensive operations,” he said. “We see it, we know it. And as a consequence we are reacting,” he added of the future possibility of an offensive by Ukrainian forces.
