Ukraine general says 'fierce' fighting inside Avdiivka

DONETSK

Ukraine said Friday there was fierce fighting in the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka and that it was preparing new positions around the industrial hub as Russia steps up attacks.

Ukraine has rushed soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, where the military said the situation was "extremely critical".

The announcement of reinforcements came as a Ukrainian rocket strike on the Russian border city of Belgorod killed at least seven people, officials there said.

Ukraine said four people were killed following a spree of Russian air and missile attacks.

Both sides are escalating aerial attacks as the war nears the end of its second year. Ukraine's position around Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region has grown increasingly precarious.

"The Third Separate Assault Brigade confirms that it was urgently redeployed to strengthen Ukrainian troops in the Avdiivka area," the brigade said in a Telegram post.

It described the situation as "extremely critical," "threatening" and "unstable", adding that Russia was "throwing new forces and resources into the town".

"Avdiivka is at risk of falling into Russian control," U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington, citing Ukrainian reports.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kiev was sending as much support as possible to troops in the region.

"We are doing everything we can to ensure that our warriors have enough managerial and technological capabilities to save as many Ukrainian lives as possible," Zelensky said during his evening address, after being briefed by military brass.

Russian troops, who have managed to almost encircle the town through a series of bloody attacks launched last year, have made progress in recent days.

Bringing in supplies and evacuating the few hundred civilians who remained was "complicated", a Ukrainian army spokesman said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in late January that Russian troops had reached the city's outskirts. They have also cut a key access road, according to reports from both Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers.

 'We're losing battles' 

The battle for the industrial hub, less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the city of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the two-year war.

It has drawn comparisons with last year's grinding fight for Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed.

Should Russian forces punch through Ukraine's stretched defences, it would be the most significant territorial gain for Moscow since it seized Bakhmut last May.

In the eastern city of Kramatorsk, a Ukrainian serviceman echoed widespread concerns over a lack of ammunition and fatigue among troops.

"Those who have been fighting for two years are already mentally exhausted," the soldier, returning to combat on the eastern front after being treated in hospital, told AFP, withholding his name while speaking about sensitive military issues.

 Belgorod strike 

A Ukrainian rocket strike killed at least seven people, including a one-year-old girl, and wounded almost 20 in the Russian city of Belgorod on Thursday, Moscow said.

Images of the aftermath showed a blown-out shopping centre and scattered debris. One showed a body covered with a blanket nearby.

Russia's foreign ministry blasted a "monstrous crime against civilians" and called for international condemnation of Ukraine.

There was no immediate comment from Kiev.

Russia's defence ministry said its air defences intercepted 14 Ukrainian rockets at the time of the attack. Officials did not say if any hit the city or if the damage had been caused by falling debris.

Both sides had earlier launched a wave of overnight aerial attacks.

Russia carried out dozens of air and missile strikes, killing at least four people, Ukraine said. Its air force said it intercepted 13 missiles.

A 67-year-old woman was killed in the southern port city of Kherson, while in the eastern Kharkiv region a Russian missile hit a car, killing a husband and wife, Ukraine's military administration said.

A 17-year-old girl was also found dead near the car.

Russia blamed a Ukrainian drone attack overnight for a blaze at an oil depot in the western Kursk region, close to the border with Ukraine.

Kiev has called a series of strikes on energy facilities "fair" retribution for Moscow's own attacks on Ukraine's power grid.

 Zelensky to EU 

Concern is growing in Kiev and Western capitals over Ukraine's ability to hold out against intensifying Russian attacks without more Western military support.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday said the delay in passing new U.S. aid for Ukraine was already hurting Kiev on the battlefield.

Zelensky on Friday will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin and French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris, his office announced.

According to a spokesman for the German government, Zelensky and Scholz will sign a bilateral pact covering "long-term security commitments and support" for Ukraine.

Kiev has been pressing Europe to deliver more much-needed artillery shells amid frontline shortages.

Zelensky will meet U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.