Krasnohorivka and Avdiivka, both in the vicinities of Donetsk, are the hottest flashpoints in the entire combat area in eastern Ukraine. Olexandr Motuyanyk, the spokesman for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, reported that at a briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
‘As of the afternoon of February 1, the situation has not changed a bit,’ he said.
The state of emergency was declared in Avdiivka on January 31; the town’s infrastructure and residential areas take heavy damage due to ongoing artillery and mortar strikes landed by Russia-backed militants. The ongoing shelling badly damaged the most important communication systems in the town – electricity and water supply, as well as the heating system. Locals are facing humanitarian crisis; they are short of water and food, warm clothes, heating devices and fuel. Volunteers and local authorities assist the civilians, delivering all sorts of humanitarian aid.