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Assault Has Gutted Town in Ukraine, Official Says

Russia’s assault on Avdiivka has turned the town in eastern Ukraine into an apocalyptic landscape, a senior local official said on Monday, mandating the evacuation of public utility workers who restore basic services and help rescue civilians.

Since the start of the war, Russian forces have repeatedly tried to seize Avdiivka, a Ukrainian stronghold in the Donetsk region. But they have redoubled their efforts to capture the town in recent weeks, stepping up bombardment of the city center and outlying villages as part of a broader offensive that has centered on the city of Bakhmut.

The evacuation order to public utility workers and emergency workers, who play a vital role in the aftermath of rocket and missile strikes, underscored the gravity of the situation. Firefighters had already been withdrawn from Avdiivka.

“Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a site from post-apocalyptic movies,” Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the city’s military administration, said in a video posted Monday on the Telegram social messaging app. Barabash wore a helmet and flak jacket in the video, which showed piles of rubble in the street, shattered apartment blocks and trees blackened by fire.

He later said that journalists and aid workers were forbidden from entering the town.

Avdiivka once served as a bedroom community for the large metropolis of Donetsk, before that city was taken over in the separatist war instigated and fueled by President Vladimir Putin in 2014. Only 15 miles or so from Donetsk, Avdiivka became a key defensive position, with a contingent of Ukrainian forces dug into trenches built around the ruins of country homes and an old tire factory. Then Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 — and Avdiivka came under heavy assault.

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2023-03-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-27T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://timesdigest.pressreader.com/article/281509345440552

New York Times