Russia renews attacks on Avdiivka – DW – 11/24/2023

Russia says it has destroyed 16 Ukrainian drones in the south of the country and over annexed Crimea. 

“Air defense systems destroyed 16 drones, including 13 over the Crimean peninsula and three over the territory of the Volgograd region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said. 

Ukraine has stepped up drone and missile attacks on Russian military installations in and around the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

The Ukrainian military, meanwhile, said its air defense systems had shot down three Iranian-designed attack drones launched by Russian forces overnight.

A third wave of Russian forces is attacking the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka and systematically shelling the center of the industrial hub, a local Ukrainian official said. 

“The third wave [of assaults] began. They are attacking from all directions, from the flanks of the south and north, as they did before. They are attacking the industrial zone,” Vitaly Barabash, the head of the town, said.

Avdiivka has been on the front line since 2014 and is part of the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed to have annexed along with three other regions. This fall, Russia intensified its attack on Avdiivka.

“They are attacking from all sides, using a lot of infantry. Machinery went to the industrial zone, because the asphalt surface allows them to do so,” Barabash told state media.

Barabash said 1,350 residents were remaining in the town which had a pre-war population of around 30,000 people. Some 102 people had been evacuated over the last week.

dh/ab (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)