Russia continued its offensive in the Avdiivka sector in the Donetsk Oblast (eastern Ukraine), but Ukrainian troops did not allow the Russians to advance, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported in its daily frontline update on 20 October 2023.
According to Ukraine’s General Staff, the Russian army sustained heavy losses over the past 24 hours during its offensive operations, losing 120 armored vehicles and 55 tanks.
Within 24 hours, the Russian army launched five missile strikes and 33 air strikes. Apart from air strikes, Russian troops used multiple rocket launchers to shell the positions of Ukrainian forces and residential areas of Ukrainian towns 32 times, the General Staff reported. Russian attacks resulted in civilian casualties and injuries. Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged.
Over the last day, there were around 77 combat engagements between Ukrainian defenders and invading Russian troops, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
In the Avdiivka sector (Donetsk Oblast), the Ukrainian defenders are holding the line, according to the General Staff. Ukrainian troops repelled 20 Russian attacks near Avdiivka, Novokalynove, Stepove, and Pervomaiske in the Donetsk Oblast. Russia’s Air Force launched air strikes near Keramik and Lastochkyne.
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The Russian army shelled Avdiivka using heavy artillery and mortars. Most of the people have already left Avdiivka to escape Russian indiscriminate shelling. The pre-war population of the city was around 32,000 residents. In August 2022, the city’s population was estimated at 2,500 people.
Apart from Avdiivka, the Russians shelled over 14 towns in the Avdiivka sector of the eastern front, including Oleksandropil, Novokalynove, Sievierne, Pervomaiske, and Nevelske.
Apart from a massive assault on Avdiivka, Russian forces launched offensive operations in other sectors of the eastern front, the General Staff reported.
In the Kupiansk sector, which covers Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian troops repelled over 20 Russian attacks in the vicinities of Synkivka and Ivanivka in the Kharkiv Oblast and three more attacks near Nadiya in the Luhansk Oblast.
In the Bakhmut sector (Donetsk Oblast), Ukrainian defenders repelled over ten Russian attacks in the vicinities of Bohdanivka, Khromove, and Klishchiivka, which the Ukrainian Army liberated in September 2023. Russia’s Air Force launched air strikes in the vicinities of Klishchiivka, New York, and Kurdiumivka in the Donetsk Oblast.
In the Mariinka sector (Donetsk Oblast), Russian forces conducted unsuccessful assault operations with air support in the vicinities of Mariinka and Novomykhailivka, the General Staff reported. The Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled more than 15 Russian attacks in that area.
In the Lyman sector (Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts), Ukrainian troops repelled a Russian attack east of Nevelske (Luhansk Oblast), according to the General Staff. Russia’s Air Force launched an air strike in the vicinity of Bilohorivka (Luhansk Oblast).
In the Shakhtarsk sector, which covers parts of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, Ukrainian troops repelled Russian attacks near Zolota Nyva, Staromaiorske, and Rivnopil (Donetsk Oblast).
Credit: Ukraine’s General Staff via Facebook.
In the Zaporizhzhia sector, Russian forces conducted unsuccessful assault operations near Poltavka (Zaporizhzhia Oblast) and made attempts to regain lost ground near Robotyne (Zaporizhzhia Oblast), to no success, the General Staff reported.
In the Kherson sector (southern Ukraine), the Russian Air Force launched air strikes in the vicinities of Zmiivka, Beryslav, Kozatske, and Novoberyslav (Kherson Oblast). The settlement of Dudchany and the city of Kherson came under Russian artillery and mortar fire.
At the same time, The Ukrainian Armed Forces continued to conduct counteroffensive operations in the Melitopol direction on the southern front and offensive (assault) operations in the Bakhmut sector, inflicting losses in manpower and equipment on the Russian forces and exhausting the Russian Army, the General Staff reported.
Over the past day, Ukraine’s Air Force carried out seven air strikes on the areas of concentration of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment and four air strikes on Russian anti-aircraft missile systems, the General Staff reported.
Within the last 24 hours, Ukraine’s rocket forces and artillery units destroyed three areas of concentration of Russian troops, weapons, and military equipment, a command post, an ammunition depot, and an electronic warfare station, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.
Related:
- Frontline report: Russia’s Avdiivka offensive “not worth the losses,” Russian troop said
- ISW: Ukrainian actions on the east bank of Kherson Oblast larger than before
- British intel: Ukraine’s strikes at Berdiansk and Luhansk airfields reduce Russia’s capabilities at the front
- General Staff: Ukrainian troops destroy Russian Su-25 fighter jet
