The eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka is increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the conflict, where fighting remains intense even\u00a0when the front lines\u00a0have barely moved for months. <\/p>\n
Russia appears to have made tactical advances in the outskirts of the embattled town as Ukraine claims it is inflicting heavy losses on assaulting troops. <\/p>\n
With the weather getting colder and both sides struggling for a breakthrough, Ukraine\u2019s president also announced he would shore up his country\u2019s defenses. <\/p>\n
Here is what you need to know about the past week in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
Ukraine is stepping up efforts to bolster defenses and fortifications across the country. <\/p>\n
President\u00a0Volodymyr\u00a0<\/strong>Zelensky announced a countrywide initiative to strengthening defensive positions on Thursday,<\/strong>\u00a0outlining the main areas of focus. <\/p>\n The primary effort will be where heavy fighting is taking place on front lines in the Avdiivka-Mariinka direction in\u00a0eastern\u00a0<\/strong>Donetsk, and the\u00a0defensive line near Kupiansk in\u00a0the north-eastern\u00a0Kharkiv region. <\/p>\n Defensive fortifications will be bolstered along all of Ukraine\u2019s northern territory which borders Belarus and Russia. <\/p>\n Positions will also be strenegthened in the southern Kherson region where Ukrainian troops are continuing their attempts to widen a bridgehead in the Russian occupied bank of the Dnipro\u00a0River. <\/p>\n Analysts warn that building up fortifications with active shelling in some areas and harsh winter conditions can pose a challenge. <\/p>\n Zelensky\u2019s announcement comes as the war enters what Ukraine\u2019s top military chief called \u201cpositional war\u201d\u2014 a maturing phase of the conflict where neither side has the ability to generate force overmatch or significant breakthrough leading to more static and solidified frontlines. <\/p>\n Analysts have pointed to Russian defensive positions which managed to keep Ukraine\u2019s summer counteroffensive from gaining ground as an example of the effectiveness of fortified lines. <\/p>\n As both side dig in, it makes seizing significant territory without huge attrition \u2013 where depth of manpower and equipment becomes a determining factor \u2013 harder and harder. <\/p>\n Russian forces continued their attempts to fully encircle the town of Avdiivka in Ukraine\u2019s eastern Donetsk region where harsh winter conditions have reportedly complicated maneuvers for both Ukrainian and Russian forces. <\/p>\n Pro-Russian bloggers have reported tactical advances in the industrial zone in the southeast and the rail lines in the northwest of the town throughout the week as the Ukrainian military claimed they are holding defensive positions. <\/p>\n Russia maintains air superiority and has been making use of guided aerial bombs, retrofitted Soviet-era munitions with high explosive loads that are released by Russian warplanes outside the range of air defenses, as high velocity winds and snow limit the use of drones. <\/p>\n A local official said Russia has been focusing on trying to get the high ground in the industrial zone in\u00a0Avdiivka\u00a0but has not been successful. Ukraine claims defensive actions in and around the town are inflicting heavy losses on Russian troops and equipment. <\/p>\n Ukrainian police have been helping locals evacuate. Some 1,<\/strong>300 civilians remain in Avdiivka, which has been a front line town since 2014. <\/p>\n An elderly couple who were evacuated from Avdiivka this week recounted the decision to leave. \u201cIt gets worse and worse day after day\u2026 we get almost no sleep. Shelling and shelling and shelling\u2026We thought we could wait, that things would get better, but we have run out of patience,\u201d she said. \u201cAt least now, we can get some sleep.\u201d <\/p>\n Some essential workers are in the city to provide services for the remaining civilians, including two doctors and four nurses, according to the head of local military administration Vitalii Barabash. If needed \u201cmost of them have already packed their bags\u00a0and are\u00a0ready to leave within an hour.\u201d <\/p>\n Ukraine\u2019s Security Service (SBU) is responsible for explosions on two trains traveling along a strategic rail route in eastern Russia this week, a Ukrainian defense source claimed Friday. <\/p>\n If confirmed, the strikes show Kyiv\u2019s intent and ability to disrupt Russian logistics thousands of miles away from the frontlines of Moscow\u2019s war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n With train traffic rerouted around the tunnel, the SBU on Thursday targeted the second train as it passed over the nearby Devil\u2019s Bridge, according to the source. <\/p>\n Both explosions were the result of planted \u201cexplosive devices,\u201d the source claimed. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Russians have fallen into the SBU\u2019s trap twice,\u201d the source said. The twin bombings were a \u201cspecial operation to disable this important railroad,\u201d the source added. <\/p>\n Russian Telegram channels reported news of two train fires in the area. Videos circulated by some Russian telegram channels show wagons on fire along a rail track, although it is not immediately clear which incident the videos are from. <\/p>\n Russia has not immediately called Wednesday\u2019s explosion an attack or blamed Ukraine for what it has so far characterized as \u201ca cargo train fire.\u201d Unofficial Russian media reported investigators are looking into the possibility of \u201csabotage.\u201d <\/p>\n The Ukrainian source said the Russians use the railroad for \u201cmilitary logistics\u201d and characterized the route as \u201cthe only major railroad connection between Russia and China.\u201d The targeted trains were carrying fuel, the source said. <\/p>\n Ukrainian analysts said the route is critical for Russian deliveries from North Korea and China. <\/p>\n The warning light turned from green to red at the last operating checkpoint on the Finnish side of the border with Russia this week as Moscow\u2019s international isolation continues to grow. <\/p>\n Finnish television announced the closure: \u201cThe entire eastern\u00a0border\u00a0of\u00a0Finland\u00a0is now closed. <\/p>\n The crossing was one of the few entry points for Russians after many Western countries shut their air space and borders to Russian planes in response to the Ukraine invasion. <\/p>\n The 1,340-kilometer- (833-mile-)\u00a0long border will be closed for at least two weeks. <\/p>\n Finland\u2019s decision came as more and more third country nationals started arriving from Russia. Helsinki accused Russia of weaponizing refugees and asylum seekers and called the arrivals\u00a0a \u201cRussian hybrid operation.\u201d <\/p>\n NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia of using migration as a \u201ctool\u201d to create \u201cpressure\u201d along its border with Finland. \u201cWe have seen them using energy, we have seen them using cyber attacks, we have seen them using different kinds of clandestine operations to try and undermine our democracies. The fact that Russia is using migration as a tool is now another example of the attempt to put pressure on neighbors,\u201d Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels. <\/p>\n Russia called Finland\u2019s decision to close all border checkpoints \u201cirrational.\u201d <\/p>\n Marianna Budanova,\u00a0who is\u00a0married to Ukraine\u2019s defense intelligence\u00a0(GUR) chief\u00a0Kyrylo Budanov,\u00a0was hospitalized with apparent heavy metals poisoning the\u00a0GUR\u00a0said, raising concerns that Russia may have the capacity to target senior Ukrainian leadership. <\/p>\n The seriousness of Budanova\u2019s condition was not immediately apparent. <\/p>\n Russia \u2014\u00a0and the Soviet Union before that \u2014\u00a0has been known to carry out extra-territorial\u00a0poisonings against its enemies. <\/p>\n\n The eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka is increasingly becoming a flashpoint in the conflict, where fighting remains intense even\u00a0when the front lines\u00a0have barely moved for months. Russia appears to have made tactical advances in the outskirts of the embattled town as Ukraine claims it is inflicting heavy losses on assaulting troops. With the weather getting <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":12385,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} \u2018It gets worse and worse\u2019: The fight for Avdiivka<\/h2>\n
Ukraine claims it sabotaged two Russian trains in Siberia<\/h2>\n
Finland closes border with Russia after migrant surge<\/h2>\n
Ukrainian spy chief\u2019s wife hospitalized after apparent poisoning<\/h2>\n