{"id":15646,"date":"2024-02-16T12:49:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-16T12:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/16\/enemy-is-coming-from-all-sides-ukraines-troops-face-hellish-conditions-as-russia-throws-all-it-has-at-town-of-avdiivka\/"},"modified":"2024-02-16T12:49:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T12:49:10","slug":"enemy-is-coming-from-all-sides-ukraines-troops-face-hellish-conditions-as-russia-throws-all-it-has-at-town-of-avdiivka","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/2024\/02\/16\/enemy-is-coming-from-all-sides-ukraines-troops-face-hellish-conditions-as-russia-throws-all-it-has-at-town-of-avdiivka\/","title":{"rendered":"Enemy is \u2018coming from all sides:\u2019 Ukraine\u2019s troops face \u2018hellish\u2019 conditions as Russia throws all it has at town of Avdiivka"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

A Ukrainian drone spots Russian soldiers hiding amid the remains of what was once someone\u2019s home, in the middle of a lunar-like landscape of charred ground, craters and sapless trunks. <\/p>\n

Another drone carrying a small warhead moves in and detonates on impact. A second one follows. Then a third. Finally, the Russian unit is eliminated. <\/p>\n

For the\u00a0drone operators, it is a victory, but such wins are becoming\u00a0rare in this part of Ukraine, as Moscow throws everything it has at the small, battered and now largely deserted\u00a0town. <\/p>\n

In an apparent\u00a0nod to the importance of Avdiivka,\u00a0which lies\u00a0to the northwest of Donetsk city,\u00a0Ukraine\u2019s new army chief Oleksandr\u00a0Syrskyi and Ukraine\u2019s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov this week visited soldiers on the front lines there. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe operational situation is extremely complicated and tense,\u201d Syrskyi acknowledged. \u201cWe are doing everything possible to prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into our territory and to hold our positions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Quelling rumors that Ukraine was considering a withdrawal from Avdiivka, Syrskyi has instead sent in reinforcements. <\/p>\n

He\u2019s deployed one of Ukraine\u2019s most battle-hardened units \u2013 the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade \u2013 which earned praise for its daring attacks on Russian forces around Bakhmut. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe made a number of important decisions aimed at strengthening the combat capabilities of our military units and preventing enemy actions,\u201d Syrskyi explained during his visit to the front line. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised \u201cmaximum attention\u201d for the eastern front and said the new army chief\u2019s visit to the area would help address the issues facing units on the ground. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe existing problems are being solved \u2013 manning the units, reinforcement, command and control,\u201d Zelensky said in his nightly address. \u201cWe will be reinforced with drones, electronic warfare, and command positions will also be strengthened.\u201d <\/p>\n

But just a couple of days later, amid the ongoing Russian onslaught, even the reinforcements were describing \u201chellish\u201d conditions. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur brigade is carrying out combat missions in conditions that even we could hardly imagine,\u201d Maksym Zhorin, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade\u2019s deputy commander said in a battlefield report on Thursday. \u201cThe battles in Avdiivka are several times more hellish than the hottest battles of this phase of the war, which took place in Bakhmut.\u201d <\/p>\n

Much as it did in Bakhmut\u00a0this time last year, Russia is throwing everything it has at Avdiivka in pursuit of victory, pummeling the\u00a0town\u00a0with airstrikes and artillery, while launching wave after wave of ground assaults by armored vehicles and soldiers. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s turned the\u00a0town\u00a0into what Ukrainian soldiers call a \u201cmeat grinder.\u201d <\/p>\n

During the offensive Russia has suffered immense losses \u2014 so large\u00a0it might\u00a0make other militaries regroup and rethink \u2014 but Moscow appears to be calculating these losses are worth it, given its numerical advantage. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe enemy is huge, coming from all sides,\u201d Zhorin added. <\/p>\n

\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018I\u2019m not going anywhere\u2019<\/h2>\n

Other video footage from Avdiivka shows a quite different side to the\u00a0town\u2019s plight. <\/p>\n

He shies away as the policeman approach, holding up a smartphone. The man\u2019s adult daughter is on the other end, trying to convince him to leave. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going anywhere,\u201d he tells her. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll send you money and you will come to me, in Kherson,\u201d his daughter pleads in desperation. \u201cI\u2019ll pay for travel and accommodation.\u201d <\/p>\n

But her cries fall on deaf ears. <\/p>\n

The officers who approached\u00a0the man\u00a0with the phone are part of a special Ukrainian police unit known as the \u201cWhite Angels,\u201d which has been tasked with helping vulnerable civilians flee the\u00a0town, home to 30,000 people two years ago. <\/p>\n

Already this year they\u2019ve evacuated more than 120 people, mostly elderly, but also some children. Many of these battle-worn citizens have been living through some level of conflict ever since Avdiivka\u00a0<\/strong>\u2013 about 20km from the city of Donetsk \u2013 became the front line against Russian-backed\u00a0fighters\u00a0in 2015. <\/p>\n

Reluctant to leave, many resisted the first thrust of Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in February 2022, holding out\u00a0<\/strong>until they could no longer bear it. Now, with Russian shelling intensifying since the end of last year, there\u2019s little left to cling to. <\/p>\n

Other footage collected by Ukrainian units shows scenes of devastation, with high-rise buildings covered in holes\u00a0from the constant Russian barrages. Some high-rises have been knocked over completely and most small buildings have been reduced to mounds of rubble. <\/p>\n

Pushing back<\/h2>\n

The Russian assault on Avdiivka comes after an unconvincing Ukrainian counter-offensive in the summer and as Western support for Kyiv falters. European shipments of ammunition and financial aid have been delayed by Brussels\u2019 notorious red tape \u2014 and some resistance from Hungary \u2014 but it\u2019s the delays\u00a0in Washington\u00a0that are most concerning to Kyiv. <\/p>\n

The United States has been Ukraine\u2019s largest backer since day one, but its continued military support has become a divisive issue\u00a0among lawmakers. The\u00a0reluctance of Trump-supporting\u00a0Republicans\u00a0to back the White House\u00a0is giving Putin and Russia an edge, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the impact already of the fact that the US has not been able to make a decision,\u201d Stoltenberg said in an interview Thursday. <\/p>\n

Seemingly\u00a0outmanned and outgunned, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade admits the situation is \u201ccritical,\u201d but insists it will continue to push back, and claims to have critically damaged two Russian brigades. <\/p>\n

Still, even if the claim is true, the brigade is well aware that Russia has plenty more soldiers to replace its loses as it \u201ccontinues to actively rotate its troops and deploy new forces and equipment to the\u00a0town.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are forced to fight 360 degrees against new brigades that the enemy is deploying,\u201d says the commander of the 3rd Brigade, Andrii Biletskyi. \u201cOur soldiers are demonstrating unprecedented heroism.\u201d <\/p>\n

Vasco Cotovio wrote in London, Olga Voitovych and Svietlana Vlasova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n

This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Ukrainian drone spots Russian soldiers hiding amid the remains of what was once someone\u2019s home, in the middle of a lunar-like landscape of charred ground, craters and sapless trunks. Another drone carrying a small warhead moves in and detonates on impact. A second one follows. Then a third. Finally, the Russian unit is eliminated. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":15647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-15646","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\/15646","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=15646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}