Russian forces, aimed at containing a Ukrainian counteroffensive that began four months ago, continued relentless pressure on the city of Avdiyivka on Sunday and increased shelling in the southern district of Kherson, Reuters said.

Russia has focused on the industrial east after retreating after failing to capture Kyiv at the start of the February 2022 invasion, and its troops have struggled to hold onto their positions in Kherson after abandoning the region’s main city late last year.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in its report on Sunday evening that Ukrainian forces repelled almost 20 Russian attacks in the Avdiyivka area, and buildings in the city are currently destroyed. Russian aircraft struck nearby villages, the General Staff reported.

Avdiyivka became the gateway to the recapture of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk and the rest of Donbas, which consists of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

It was briefly occupied in 2014, when Russian-backed separatists seized large parts of eastern Ukraine, but was later repulsed by Ukrainian forces, who over the next nine years built strong fortifications.

“It is true that Avdiyivka is important,” Andrii Yusov, spokesman for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, told Espresso TV.

“This is not the first time when the occupying forces raised the tension with statements about the capture of Donetsk and Luhansk regions… The plans failed, the deadlines were canceled. This is just another episode of tension.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyi called the situation in Avdiivka and neighboring Marinka “particularly difficult”. Numerous attacks by Russians. But our positions are maintained.”

“Every day we need a result for Ukraine to resist the Russian attacks, to remove the occupiers, to move forward,” Zelenskyy said in a video speech Sunday night. “Whether it’s one kilometer or 500 meters, but we’re moving forward. every day.” .

Russian military reports did not mention Avdiivka, but described successful operations against Ukrainian positions to the east in Bakhmut, captured by Moscow in May after months of fighting.

In Kherson, the governor of the region Oleksandr Prokudin said that the Russians bombed several villages, as well as transport and food production facilities in the city of Kherson.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the accounts of either camp.

Russian forces regularly shell Kherson and villages on the west bank of the Dnieper from positions on the east bank, where they withdrew at the end of last year.

Last week, the Institute for the Study of War revealed that Ukrainian forces were forcing the Dnipro to take up new positions.