Ukraine reports soldiers captured amid ‘fierce’ fighting in Avdiivka
KYIV: Ukraine said on Friday that some of its soldiers were captured in fierce fighting in the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka that has become a main Russian target ahead of the second anniversary of its invasion.
As President Volodymyr Zelensky travelled to Berlin and Paris in a new bid to secure desperately needed military aid, Ukrainian generals said there was bitter fighting inside Avdiivka, which is surrounded by Russian forces on three sides. “Fierce battles are taking place within the city,” Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, the Ukrainian general commanding the zone, said on social media.
“Where necessary” Ukrainian forces were taking up “new positions,” Tarnavsky posted on Telegram. “Unfortunately, during one of these sorties, several of our soldiers were captured.”
The Ukrainian military said on its social media that Ukrainian troops were being reinforced and were “standing their ground”.
Russia has been trying to capture Avdiivka for months. Its fall would be a significant symbolic victory for Russia ahead of the Feb 24 anniversary of the start of the invasion, and its most significant territorial gain since it seized Bakhmut last May.
Civilians evacuated
A Ukrainian army spokesman said the “complicated” operation of bringing in supplies and evacuating the few hundred civilians who remained had started.
“Avdiivka is at risk of falling into Russian control,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington, citing Ukrainian reports.
Zelensky said Kyiv was sending as much support as possible to the region.
“We are doing everything we can to ensure that our warriors have enough managerial and technological capabilities to save as many Ukrainian lives as possible,” Zelensky said during his evening address.
The battle for the industrial hub, less than 10km north of the city of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the two-year war.
Many compare it to the battle for Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.
Desperate Zelensky
Ukrainian leaders have highlighted the increasingly difficult situation on the eastern frontlines because of ammunition shortages and fresh Russian attacks.
Zelensky late on Friday signed a security pact with France, after earlier in the day securing a similar deal with Germany. Both accords include military assistance and security arrangements.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the US House of Representatives are blocking authorising US$60 billion in new military aid for Ukraine.
A research institute that monitors assistance estimated on Friday that the European Union will have to double its military support to Ukraine to fill a gap left by the US.
“It is highly uncertain whether the US will send further military aid in 2024,” the Germany-based Kiel Institute said in a report.
According to its data up to Jan 15, 2024, the US sent €42.2 billion in military aid to Ukraine between February 2022 and December 2023, at a rate of around €2 billion a month.
The EU and its 27 members have promised €49.7 billion of military aid since the start of the war, but have delivered or earmarked just €35.2 billion.
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