Ukraine breaks siege, counterattacks in 'second Bakhmut'

Ukraine counterattacks and gains ground after a long siege by Russian forces in Avdeevka, a city known as "the second Bakhmut".

"Located images show Ukrainian forces making advances near the railway line southeast of the village of Stepove, approximately 3 km northwest of the city of Avdeevka," said a November 19 battlefield report from the US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

According to the report, some Russian military bloggers also confirmed that Ukrainian forces had captured some strongholds near the railway line near the village of Stepove, as well as launched a counterattack near Avdeevka Coke Plant, Ukraine's largest coke plant. The report stated that the Russian military launched several attacks near Avdeevka, a city in Donetsk Oblast, but did not make any progress.

Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesman for Ukraine's southern army, said on the same day that Russian forces suffered heavy losses near Avdeevka, forcing them to call in additional mobilisation troops and soldiers from the punitive force to reinforce them. The Ukrainian army also announced that it had repelled 26 Russian attacks on the Avdeevka front.

Ukrainian soldiers during a training session near the front line in Donetsk on October 15. Photo: EFE/EPA — Ukrainian soldiers during a training session near the front line in Donetsk on October 15. Photo: *EFE*

The Russian Defense Ministry has not commented on the information, but said its forces repelled six Ukrainian attacks, destroying 240 soldiers, a tank, an infantry fighting vehicle, two combat vehicles and a howitzer of the enemy on the Donetsk front on November 19.

In mid-October, Russia sent the equivalent of three brigades to attack Avdeevka, a key city north of the provincial capital of Donetsk, which had a population of about 32,000 before the outbreak of hostilities.

Capturing Avdeevka would allow the Russian army to extend its frontline by 50-60 km, creating a gateway from the capital Donetsk to other cities, such as Kostiantynivka in the north, thereby moving closer to its goal of complete control over Donetsk province.

Russian forces then formed a pincer movement surrounding Avdeevka from the north, south, and east, leaving Kiev only able to maintain supplies and reinforcements for the city from the west.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on November 14 that Russia had lost more men and equipment near Avdeevka than in the fighting in Bakhmut at a “speed and scale” greater than in the fighting in the region. Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the Kiev-appointed Avdeevka administration, said on November 13 that at least 3,000 Russian soldiers had been killed and 7,000 wounded in more than a month of fighting there.