The mayor of Avdiivka, Vitaliy Barabash, warns of a “third wave of attacks” around the city. Despite extreme losses, Russia is apparently still gathering 40,000 soldiers.
This was reported by the Münchner Merkur, citing the Tagesspiegel. The Kyiv Independent, on the other hand, reported that Russia has already lost nearly 7,000 soldiers on this front. According to dpa, Mayor Barabash stated that the enemy is “replenishing its reserves, both in terms of material and personnel.” These Ukrainian claims have not yet been independently verified.
Offensive only a “surprise attack”?
Ukrainian military expert Alexander Kovalenko said that he initially sees the offensive in Avdiivka as a “surprise attack” meant to camouflage the counter-offensive in the Zaporizhzhia region. “Russia also feigned an offensive in the areas of Kupiansk and Lyman in the Luhansk region this summer to distract Ukrainian forces from Zaporizhzhia,” Kovalenko said according to the report. “This led to nothing because they lacked the strength to attack along a 150-kilometer front,” he further explained.
Image: kremlin.ru, CC BY 4.0, Vladimir Putin, Sergei Lavrov and Sergei Shoigu (2019-02-02) 03.jpg, via Wikimedia Commons (resized)