Avdiivka fell to the Russians on Saturday, after some of the most horrific and destructive fighting of the two-year-old war. In the end, Russia’s superior firepower and manpower overwhelmed Ukrainian forces over many months. The Ukrainians withdrew under withering bombardment, fighting intense battles across ruined streets to break out of Russian attempts to encircle them. In early October, Russia launched the first of a series of large-scale offensives aimed at broadly encircling Avdiivka. The Russians devised a new plan this winter, using a two-mile-long drainage tunnel to burrow under Ukrainian fortifications, infiltrate a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the city, and ambush the Ukrainians.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/18/world/europe/ukraine-russia-avdiivka.html
