Russian troops alter approach in grueling Avdiivka fighting as losses mount, says local governor
Russian occupation forces have slightly changed their tactics in the Avdiivka sector, Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka town military-civilian administration, said on Ukrainian national television on Dec. 22.
"The enemy has changed tactics a bit," Barabash said.
“They have prioritized, relatively speaking, three areas: where they are sending equipment and a large number of infantry.”
This sector of the front is "really very difficult and very hot right now," the governor said.
"Recently, people often ask if it has become easier – it hasn't. The enemy will try to realize their goal of taking the town," he said.
However, Barabash said there is no need to spread rumors of betrayal, as Ukrainian troops continue to hold their defenses.
Russian troops intensified their attacks on the Donbas town of Avdiivka on Oct. 10.
Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi said that during a month of active assaults on Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast, Russia had lost about 10,000 soldiers.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that the Russian military is losing soldiers and equipment near Avdiivka "faster and on a larger scale than, in particular, near Bakhmut."
But the enemy has apparently not changed its intentions. Soldiers from the front line report that enemy forces want to cut the Ukrainian supply route dubbed the "road of life" leading to Avdiivka.
Denying earlier Russian claims, spokesperson for the Tavria Defense Forces press center, Oleksandr Shtupun, said on Dec. 21 that the Avdiivka Coke Plant remains under the control of Ukrainian forces.
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