Avdiivka under constant shelling: humanitarian aid is no longer delivered to city for security reasons

Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the city's military administration, said during a telethon.

"The shelling lasted all night. We hear small arms fire from the positions around the clock. They are shooting from everything they have. The decreased tension that has been observed in our sector for several days... Unfortunately, yesterday we saw an escalation on the contrary, the number of attacks on the community's territory increased, the number of airstrikes has also grown," the official said.

According to him, the invaders are compensating for their failures on the battlefield with these massive shelling of the city.

Evacuation of civilians continues, about 1600 people remain in the city.

"The evacuation is gradually continuing: yesterday (October 18, - ed.) we evacuated 4 people, and the day before yesterday - 9. I hope that such circumstances (escalation of hostilities - ed.) will force people to make a decision to evacuate," said Barabash.

"We have even stopped delivering humanitarian aid for the period of escalation, although it is available in the city, there is food, there is medicines in sufficient quantities, there are reserves," added the head of the military administration.

Russian offensive on the key city of Avdiivka in eastern Donetsk region

On October 11, the Institute for the Study of War noted that the Russian occupying army had intensified its offensive around Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. The city has been a frontline one for almost 10 years, and now Russian troops are trying to encircle it.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported that in the Avdiivka direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled 10 attacks near Avdiivka and another 8 attacks east of Stepove and southeast of Sieverne in the Donetsk region.

The head of Avdiivka City Military Administration, Vitaliy Barabash, reported shelling of Avdiivka, Donetsk region, which killed an elderly man and wounded two civilians.

On October 12, experts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) named the real reasons for the Russian offensive on Avdiivka.

Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration, noted that Russian troops are trying to concentrate their forces north of the city, launching assault operations.

On October 13, the ISW reported that in three days, Russian troops had captured 4.52 square kilometers of territory from different directions near Avdiivka. The occupying Russian army suffered significant losses in equipment and manpower. 

On October 16, ISW noted that Russia's attempts to advance near Avdiivka had slowed down, and the occupiers had suffered numerous losses of soldiers and equipment. Barabash then emphasized that Russia had failed in its plan to encircle Avdiivka. However, 

on October 17, ISW noted that in the coming days, Russian forces may intensify their attempts to encircle Avdiivka, and British intelligence believes that the Russian offensive on the city will be the largest since the beginning of the year, as they want to occupy Donetsk region within its administrative boundaries.

In addition, it was reported that after the start of the offensive on Avdiivka, Russia's losses in equipment were five times higher than Ukraine's: during the six days of the offensive, the Russian army lost at least 118 units of equipment compared to 25 for Ukraine.