KYIV: Ukraine has said some of its troops were captured in fierce fighting in the besieged frontline town of Avdiivka, which has become a major Russian target ahead of the second anniversary of the invasion.
As President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Berlin and Paris in a renewed effort to secure desperately needed military aid, Ukrainian generals said fierce fighting was taking place inside Avdiivka, which is surrounded on three sides by Russian forces.
“Fierce battles are taking place inside the city,” Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, commanding the zone, said on social media.
“Where necessary,” Ukrainian forces occupied “new positions,” Tarnavskiy wrote on Telegram. “Unfortunately, during one of these fights several of our soldiers were captured.
The Ukrainian army said on its social networks that the troops were being reinforced.
Russia has been trying to seize Avdiivka for months. The fall of the city would be a major symbolic victory for Russia ahead of the February 24 anniversary of the start of the invasion and its most significant territorial gain since the capture of Bakhmut last May.
According to a Ukrainian military spokesman, a “complex” operation has begun to bring in supplies and evacuate several hundred civilians who remained in the area.
“Avdiivka is at risk of falling under Russian control,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington, referring to the Ukrainian reports.
Zelenskyy said that Kyiv is sending as much support as possible to the region.
“We are doing everything in our power to ensure that our fighters have enough managerial and technological capabilities to save as many Ukrainian lives as possible,” Zelenskyy said in his evening speech.
The battle for the industrial center, less than 10 kilometers north of the city of Donetsk, was one of the bloodiest of the entire two-year war.
Many compare it to the Battle of Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.
Ukrainian leaders highlighted the increasingly difficult situation on the eastern front due to ammunition shortages and fresh Russian attacks.
Zelenskyi signed a security pact with France late on Friday after securing a similar deal with Germany earlier in the day. Both agreements include military aid and security measures.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the US House of Representatives are blocking $60 billion in new military aid to Ukraine.
A research institute that monitors aid estimated on Friday that the European Union would need to double its military support to Ukraine to close the gap left by the United States.
“It is highly uncertain whether the US will send additional military aid in 2024,” Germany’s Kiel Institute said in a report.
