‘Post-apocalyptic’ scenes in Avdiivka, near Bakhmut, as fighting rages
Residential buildings damaged by Russian strikes in the front-line city of Avdiivka on March 23, 2023, in Ukraine.
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Intense attacks on the eastern Donetsk town of Avdiivka and the damage they’ve caused prompted a Ukrainian official to liken the destruction to what you would see in a “post-apocalyptic” movie.
Utility workers were evacuated from Avdiivka, a town just over 50 miles southwest of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, as fighting intensified at the weekend.
“Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a site from post-apocalyptic movies … Therefore, a difficult decision was made to evacuate the rest of our heroes — utility workers who at least tried to keep the city clean and livable,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka City Military Administration, said on Telegram Sunday.
Barabash told any remaining residents to leave the town while they were still able to, saying: “so now I do not ask, I strongly recommend leaving Avdiivka, because Russian rockets and projectiles do not spare anyone or anything, no matter what views you hold,” he said.
Ukrainian military officials have already warned that the town could be a “second Bakhmut,” where there has been heavy fighting for over seven months.
On Monday, Ukraine’s general staff said Russia was concentrating its offensives around Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiivka and two other settlements, and added that its forces had repelled more than 60 attacks in the past 24 hours along the eastern front.
— Holly Ellyatt
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