Russian forces, which have been focused for weeks on capturing the key city of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine, now intend to seize its huge coke plant, the city’s mayor said, according to Reuters.

The General Staff of Ukraine announced in a briefing published on Friday evening that its forces repelled 17 attacks on and around Avdiivka.

“They must conquer it. point”

Mayor Vitaly Barabash, speaking on national television, said the interception of Russian transmissions showed that Moscow was now trying to seize the city’s huge coke plant.

“They have a new target, and it’s a coke plant. They must win it. Period,” said Barabash.

“We understand that the (new) third wave of attacks will start any day when the ground dries up and they can advance. They are engaged in the accumulation of forces. We see and hear it,” added the mayor of Avdiivka.

Ukrainian military analysts say that the prolonged assault on Avdiyivka will have more political than military significance and can only be a propaganda object for Moscow.

The General Staff also said Ukrainian forces repelled seven attacks near Kupyansk, a city in the country’s northeast that was initially captured by Russia but repulsed by Ukrainian forces in a rapid offensive late last year.

Ukrainians expect new drone attacks

Natalia Khomenyuk, a spokeswoman for the group of Ukrainian forces in the south, said that during the attacks on Thursday night, the Russians “used a large number of drones for the first time in a long time.”

“With the onset of cold weather, the enemy will most likely increase the launch of drones and missiles,” Khomenyuk said at the briefing.

Ukraine’s air force said it shot down 24 Shahed drones out of 40 launched by Russia at targets in Kharkiv in the northeast, Odesa and Kherson in the south, and Lviv region on Ukraine’s border with Poland in the west.

Russian officials said Moscow forces repelled Ukrainian attempts to advance near Kupyansk and struck Ukrainian forces in a number of towns south and west of Donetsk.