Ukraine claims it shot down a Russian assault helicopter in fierce avenue battle for Avdiivka metropolis

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces claimed Thursday to have shot down a Russian assault helicopter in japanese Ukraine close to the town of Avdiivka, the place troopers are preventing from avenue to avenue as Russia’s military steps up its four-month marketing campaign to encompass Kyiv’s defending troops.

Ukrainian troopers used a conveyable anti-aircraft missile to take down the Ka-52 Alligator assault helicopter, one of many Russian air pressure’s deadliest weapons, in response to Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukrainian models preventing on the southeastern entrance line.

The roughly 1,500-kilometer (930-mile) line of contact has shifted little throughout latest months of wintry climate. However as the war in Ukraine nears its two-year anniversary, Avdiivka has turn into “a main focus” of Moscow’s forces, the U.Ok. Protection Ministry stated in an evaluation Thursday.

Road-to-street fight is going down within the metropolis as Ukrainian troops search to maintain open their essential provide route amid intense bombardment, the ministry stated on X, previously referred to as Twitter.

The Normal Employees of Ukraine’s armed forces reported Thursday that its troops had fended off 40 enemy assaults round Avdiivka over the earlier 24 hours. That’s roughly double the variety of every day Russian assaults at different factors alongside the entrance line.

Russia’s Pravda newspaper reported Thursday that the Russian military was making an attempt to chop a key logistics provide route for Ukraine within the village of Lastochkyne, about 6 kilometers (4 miles) west of Avdiivka.

The Russian navy has used digital warfare to take out the Starlink communications system which Ukrainian troops use to speak, Pravda stated.

Ukraine has constructed a number of defenses in Avdiivka, full with concrete fortifications and a community of tunnels. Regardless of large losses of personnel and gear, Russian troops have slowly advanced since October.

The battle has developed right into a ugly effort for either side. It has been in comparison with the 9 months of preventing for Bakhmut, the Ukraine conflict’s longest and bloodiest battle. It ended with Russia capturing the bombed-out, abandoned metropolis final Could in what Moscow hailed as a serious triumph.

Each Bakhmut and Avdiivka are situated in Ukraine’s Donetsk area. Moscow-backed rebels seized a part of the area in 2014 and Russia illegally annexed all of it in 2022 with three different Ukrainian areas.

Russia needs to seize the whole Donetsk area, the place it at the moment holds simply over half of the territory.

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Observe AP’s protection of the conflict in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine