KYIV: Ukraine has rushed soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, where the military said the situation was “extremely critical”.

The announcement of reinforcements came as a Ukrainian rocket strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed at least six people, officials there said. Both sides are escalating aerial attacks as the war nears the end of its second year. Ukraine’s position around Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region has grown increasingly precarious.

“The Third Separate Assault Brigade confirms that it was urgently redeployed to streng­then Ukrainian troops in the Avdiivka area,” the brigade said in a Telegram post.

It described the situation as “extremely critical,” “threatening” and “unstable”, adding that Russia was “throwing new forces and resources into the town”. Russian troops, who have managed to almost encircle the town through a series of bloody attacks launched last year, have made progress in recent days. Bringing in supplies and evacuating the few hundred civilians who remained was “complicated”, a Ukrainian army spokesman said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in late January that Russian troops had reached the city’s outskirts. They have also cut a key access road, according to reports from both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers.

The battle for the industrial hub, less than 10 kilometres north of the city of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the two-year war. It has drawn comparisons with last year’s grinding fight for Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.

Should Russian forces punch through Ukraine’s stretched defences, it would be the most significant territorial gain for Moscow since it seized Bakhmut last May. In the eastern city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian serviceman echoed widespread concerns over a lack of ammunition and fatigue among troops fighting to hold back Russian efforts to advance.

“At the moment, we’re losing battles. There are more attacks, but everyone is hanging in there,” the soldier, returning to combat on the eastern front after being treated in hospital, said. “Those who have been fighting for two years are already mentally exhausted,” he added, withholding his name to speak openly about sensitive military issues. Journalists in the city heard regular artillery fire from the frontline further east in the Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2024