Russian offensive to take Avdiivka is failing, says Ukrainian commander

A top Ukrainian commander has claimed that Russia's biggest offensive in months - involving tanks, thousands of soldiers and armoured vehicles in an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka - is failing, as he admitted Kyiv's own attempts to advance in the south were proving "difficult".

- Luke Harding

Russian forces have pummelled the town over the past week, a bulge surrounded by Russian-held territory on the eastern Donbas front.

It is one of the largest assaults by Moscow since last year's full-scale invasion and comes at a time when Ukraine's counteroffensive is moving slowly, and the world is focused on the imminent Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

At least three Russian battalions, each supported by an estimated 2,000-3,000 troops, began a dawn attack on Tuesday. Drone footage showed a line of military vehicles trundling forward. There has been intense fighting ever since. Russia has bombarded the city with relentless artillery fire and airstrikes.

Ukrainian military officials say Moscow's goal is to encircle Avdiivka, but so far the attackers have made modest gains. Russia's 25th combined arms army pushed forward from the south and north. It seized the nearby village of Berdychi and closed in on a 150-metre high slag heap next to the town's coke and chemical factory.

The Russians have suffered serious losses: at least 36 Russian tanks and armoured vehicles were destroyed in the first 24 hours and according to the Kyiv Post, that figure has risen to 102 tanks and 183 armoured vehicles lost, with 2,840 troops killed. One tank fell off a pontoon bridge into a river.

Another crushed a Russian soldier as it reversed; a Ukrainian munition then blew it up.