Ukraine’s military command provided the assessment on Monday, the AP news agency reported.
Ukrainian troops repulsed 15 Russian attacks on Avdiivka in the previous 24 hours, coming from four different directions, according to officials in Kyiv.
This marked a notable drop in Russian attacks, from up to 60 attacks per day last week, according to Vitalii Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s city administration.
Barabash said Russia’s effort to seize Avdiivka had “deflated,” the AP reported.
Avdiivka lies in the northern suburbs of Donetsk City, in the Donetsk province, which is partially occupied by Russia, according to news outlets.
Avdiivka’s location affords Ukraine artillery advantages over the city and could serve as a springboard for an effort to retake Donetsk from Russia, the AP reported.
In a further update late on Monday, the General Staff in Kyiv said that Ukraine’s forces had repelled seven Russian attacks on the Avdiivka front during the day, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Russia had attacked with air support towards Avdiivka and Pervomaiske but these assaults were thwarted, Ukraine’s military command said.
Russia’s attack on Avdiivka represents one of Moscow’s biggest pushes since last spring, The Economist magazine noted.
Russian forces appear to aim both to create a “cauldron” around the Ukrainian defenders and to change the narrative of the war to one in which the initiative shifts back towards Russia, according to The Economist.
Ukrainian, Russian forces clash 53 times on Monday
Elsewhere on Monday, Ukraine also repulsed three Russian attacks on the Bakhmut front in Donetsk province, 16 Russian attacks on the Kupiansk front in the northeast, and also all Russian attacks in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, according to officials.
In all, 53 combat clashes were recorded during the day, while Russia also conducted six missile strikes, 39 air strikes and 16 multiple-launch rocket attacks on Ukrainian troops and settlements, Ukraine’s military command reported.
A Russian missile strike on the city of Myrhorod, in Ukraine’s eastern Poltava region, early on Monday, injured three people, including a 10-year-old child, Ukrainska Pravda reported.
At the same time, Ukrainian forces “are continuing their offensive operation on the Melitopol front,” in Zaporizhzhia, the General Staff in Kyiv said.
Ukrainian troops "continue inflicting losses in manpower and equipment on the occupation forces, and exhausting the enemy along the entire front line,” officials added.
As part of its latest counteroffensive against Russia, Ukraine is pushing through Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, in a bid to reach the port of Melitopol on the Sea of Azov, among other objectives.
Monday is day 600 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: Ukrainska Pravda, facebook.com/GeneralStaff.ua, AP, The Economist
