Intense firefights and artillery exchanges between Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed forces continued on Jan. 30, two days after clashes broke out in the Donetsk Oblast city of Avdiivka, 700 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, on the front line of the Donbas war zone.
The latest outbreak of hostilities has left seven Ukrainian soldiers dead and 14 wounded, news media reports say.
The sharp escalation in the fighting Avdiyivka came on the eve of an official visit by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to Germany and his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
During a joint briefing in Berlin, the Ukrainian leader said that the Russian-backed forces were firing artillery from residential areas.
“Our servicemen were killed by the artillery systems deployed by Russian militants in residential blocks of Donetsk and Yasynuvata in order to prevent Ukrainian military from returning fire,” Poroshenko said on Jan. 30, adding that Russian side had not responded to Ukrainian and OSCE demands to halt the shelling.
Fighting for control of Avdiivka, a town with population of 30,000 situated some 10 kilometers north of Donetsk, has gone on sporadically since the summer of 2014. Ukrainian forces have been defending the city near its southern edge, an industrial zone leading to the E-50 highway and a road junction leading to Yasynuvata – a strategically important railroad hub. The Avdiivka industrial zone is known as one of the most dangerous flashpoints in the Donbas.
According to reports in Ukrainian media, the latest surge of violence in the region started at 4.30 a.m. on Jan. 29, when pro-Russian fighters started shelling the Ukrainian 72nd Mechanized Brigade’s positions with 82 millimeter and 120 millimeter mortars. After two hours of suppressing fire, the militants launched an assault against Ukrainian forces near the E-50 highway, which separates the two opposing forces.
“During the night the residents of the town’s southern part could see and video lots of tracer fire and illumination flares fired from occupied Donetsk against the Avdiivka industrial zone,” the press service of the Ukrainian military reported.
“Two hostile groups of 25-30 persons attacked our positions,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said in statement on Jan. 30.
“This advance was repelled by the Armed Forces at one of the positions, and our servicemen assumed the counter offensive that ended up with (our forces) taking up a strategically important point.”
By sunrise, Ukrainian forces had successfully captured the enemy’s initial attack position and were digging in, in preparation for a possible new assault. Nine militants had been killed in action and 24 wounded during the failed attack by the morning of Jan. 29, and one taken prisoner, the Ukrainian military said. Ivan Balakai, a battalion commander of the Vostok combat brigade, one of the Russian-backed armed groups, who was known by the nom-de-guerre “Greek,” was also confirmed as killed during the attack, according to the Ukrainian military.
After an artillery barrage at noon on Jan. 29, the militants made a second attempt to counterattack and push the Ukrainian forces away from the highway. Their sortie was repelled again, with reportedly heavy casualties among the Russian-backed fighters, and at around 1.45 p.m. they were forced to retreat to their initial positions near the villages of Kashtanove, Mineralne and Spartak.
The failed attacks claimed at least 15 militant killed and 24 wounded, Ukrainian military intelligence reported on Jan. 29, while Ukrainian forces suffered four killed due to the attack.
“In all, yesterday’s fighting for Avdiivka lasted 19 hours. During this time, several hundred shells were fired, according to the General Staff’s calculations,” spokesperson for Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense Olexander Motuzyanyk said on Jan. 30.
After the firefight was over, there was a destructive artillery duel between Ukrainian forces and the Russian proxy forces. In the afternoon, the whole of Avdiivka was left without power due to the fighting, a local hospital and several residential buildings were damaged, and three civilians were wounded. At least 23 towns and villages in the area were also left without power due to the fighting, the regional energy company Donetskoblenergo said.
Locals told the Kyiv Post that traffic has been restricted in the region north of Donetsk due to the fighting. According to reports, several public transport routes in the northern districts of Donetsk were suspended by the city’s pro-Russian occupational administration.
Water supply interruptions were also reported across the whole region. The Donetsk Water Filtration Plant, situated in no man’s land near the Avdiivka industrial zone, recently came under shelling.
“Since Jan. 26, the employees have been working under non-stop shelling. Projectiles have exploded in the vicinity of the chlorine storages and other technical units,” the plant’s press service said on Jan. 29, adding that the plant would stop functioning unless hostilities halted.
Exchanges of artillery fire continued overnight into Monday. Social media users from various districts of Donetsk and Makiivka reported that Russian-backed forces were firing artillery on Ukrainian controlled territory, and sounds of heavy impacts and missile strikes could be heard elsewhere in the city. According to media reports, one civilian were killed by shelling in occupied Makiivka. Over the past 24 hours, OSCE monitors said they have recorded as many as 2,260 violations of the ceasefire along the frontline in the Donbas.
By the morning of Jan. 30, the intensity of the fighting was gradually reducing, although it had not stopped completely, the press officer of the 72th Mechanized Brigade, Olena Mokriychuk, told the Kyiv Post by telephone. She added that all Ukrainian forces had been put on high alert because of the recent upsurge of fighting in Avdiivka.
Overnight, Ukrainian forces suffered new casualties, with two more servicemen reported to have been killed, and five wounded.
As of the evening on Jan. 30, Avdiivka remains without electricity.
“The occupants keep shelling the industrial zone and suburbs,” Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Zhebrivsky wrote on his Facebook page on Jan. 30. “This morning the town has been targeted by tanks and cannons. We cannot send repairers to restore the power lines due to intensity of the shelling.”
However, he said that that water and heating supplies were still operational.
Locals resident told the Kyiv Post that cellphone signals were are very weak in the town, and that local police patrols had been stepped up to prevent disorder and looting.
