The occupiers are trying to advance on the village of Lastochkyne after capturing Avdiivka

In the Avdiivka direction, fighting continues west of the city, the enemy continues to make attempts to attack the village of Lastochkyne.

This was stated by the spokesman of the joint press center of the Defense Forces of the Tavriiske direction, Dmytro Lykhovii.

Before leaving Avdiivka, the Russians made 20-30 assault attempts in this direction per day, and 14 in the past day.

«I also want to draw attention to the fact that we have other hot areas. For example, Mariinsk, where 23 Russian assaults were repulsed only yesterday. Also the Zaporizhzhia direction, where the enemy unsuccessfully tried to attack the positions of our troops 13 times,» Dmytro Lykhovii said.

We will remind that on February 15, the 3rd separate assault brigade confirmed that it was urgently redeployed to strengthen Ukrainian troops in the Avdiivka area. The press service noted that the situation in the city is extremely critical.

On February 16, the brigade reported that the Russian army continues to actively shell Avdiivka, in particular, the territory of the Coke Chemical Plant. The invaders storm the city and attack from the air both day and night.

And already on February 17, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi made a decision to withdraw the Defense Forces of Ukraine from Avdiivka. He explained that he did it for the sake of preserving the personnel and defense on more profitable frontiers. During the retreat, part of the servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were captured by the Russians.

In general, during the offensive on Avdiivka, the Russians lost 47,000 soldiers killed and wounded.