Russian forces close in on east Ukraine’s Avdiivka

Kramatorsk, Ukraine – Russian forces closed in on the frontline town of Avdiivka in east Ukraine on Tuesday, as Kyiv warned Moscow was stepping up strikes in an attempt to encircle it completely.

Avdiivka is an industrial town that had a pre-war population of around 31,000. An estimated 2,000 remain.

It is symbolically and strategically important to Kyiv, lying just north of the Moscow-controlled city of Donetsk that was seized by separatist forces in 2014.

Avdiivka has since become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance against Moscow, with Kyiv clinging on there despite relentless Russian attacks during the Kremlin’s almost 20-month long offensive.

Local officials told AFP that Moscow’s forces launched an artillery attack on the town in the morning and were firing incessantly.

“For over a year, there has been the danger that (Avdiivka) can be occupied, but now the situation has worsened rapidly,” said Vitaliy Barabash, head of the town’s administration.

He said Russian forces were trying to besiege the eastern town using “all means.”

“Our Avdiivka is under massive attacks by Russian artillery and aviation,” presidential aide Andriy Yermak later said on social media.

The Ukrainian army said in a briefing that Russia had “intensified offensive actions in Avdiivka” and that Moscow’s forces had deployed tanks and armoured vehicles.

“Our defenders repelled all enemy attacks and prevented the loss of lines and positions,” it said.

Russian forces control territory to the south, east and north of Avdiivka.

– Zelensky in Romania –

The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky held talks on grain and security with Romanian counterpart Klaus Iohannis, after Moscow struck areas of Ukraine close to the Romanian border.

On his first visit to the NATO country since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year, Zelensky said the strikes near the border were “a threat, not only to our state”.

Since exiting a deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Moscow has ramped up strikes on Ukraine’s southern regions, including Danube river ports near Romania.

Last month, Romania found drone debris several times near its border with Ukraine, prompting authorities to