Russian forces attempt to encircle Avdiivka, but are running out of steam

The Avdiivka front is one of the hottest spots in Ukraine, but the Russian occupation forces there are running out of steam, just as they are on the Bakhmut front.

Source: Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s defence forces on the Tavriia front, on air during the national 24/7 newscast

Quote: "It is not extremely hot on the Avdiivka front, but enemy forces are continuing to attack [the city of] Avdiivka itself and are trying to encircle it. Fighting also continues on the Marinka front, where enemy forces are also trying to attack our positions.

Over the course of the past day, enemy forces attacked the Donetsk front 31 times, including 15 attacks on the Avdiivka front. The enemy forces attempted seven assault operations overnight, including on the Avdiivka front…

A week or two ago we had days when the Russian forces would attack 95 times a day on each front. So we can say that the enemy forces are running out of steam. Last week they’d already had to deploy reserve forces: a unit of the 98th Airborne Brigade and two tank companies participated in hostilities.

We can decisively say that the enemy has exhausted their main forces and suffered quite substantial losses in personnel and equipment. In the past 24 hours alone enemy forces lost over three companies of personnel killed and wounded."

Details: Dmytrashkivskyi said that the Avdiivka and Marinka fronts were "the hottest, but we have not lost any territory this night."

The Vuhledar front is a bit quieter than the Avdiivka and Marinka fronts. The Russians sustained significant losses in personnel and equipment there, and they are unlikely to recover given the frequent explosions in Melitopol and Berdiansk [Russian-controlled cities in southern Ukraine which have seen a lot of activity by Ukraine’s resistance forces – ed.], Dmytrashkivskyi added.

The spokesman for the Tavriia front forces said that it was too early to speak of a Ukrainian counteroffensive in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, even though Russian forces are reportedly reinforcing their defences there. Dmytrashkivskyi said that the Russians were reinforcing their defence positions there because they were in fact expecting a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

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