Russia Ukraine war latest: Putin’s forces eye new battlefield gains after fall of Avdiivka as coke plant seized

Ukrainian authorities said on Sunday they had opened an investigation into alleged shootings by Russian forces of six unarmed Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Avdiivka, and two at a village in the same region, after Russia claimed full control of the city.

“An investigation into the shootings of unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war in Avdiivka and Vesele has been launched,” the prosecutor’s office in Donetsk region said on its Telegram channel.

Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne quoted Ukrainian military spokesperson Dmytro Lykhoviy as saying: “There is still no possibility to confirm or refute” the killings at Avdiivka, as an investigation was ongoing. However, he added it would not be the first time Russia had committed war crimes.

Russian forces on Monday claimed full control of the vast Soviet-era coke plant in the ruined Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, cementing the biggest battlefield gain in nine months.

Russia’s defence ministry said its troops had advanced about 9 km (5 miles) in that part of the 1,000-km (620-mile) front line, and that Russian troops were pressing forward after an deadly urban battle.

Ukraine said it had withdrawn its soldiers to save troops from being fully surrounded after months of fierce fighting. Putin hailed the fall of Avdiivka as an important victory and congratulated Russian troops.

“The ‘Centre’ grouping of troops, taking the offensive, took full control of the coke plant in Avdiivka,” Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement alongside video showing a series of blasts in what appeared to be the plant.“Russian flags were hoisted on the administrative buildings of the plant,” the ministry said.

Russian state television showed blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flags being taken down in Avdiivka and Russia’s white, blue and red tricolour flag raised, including over the coke plant.

Lithuania’s foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Monday the EU needs to “at least sharpen” sanctions against Russia after Alexei Navalny’s death, while “half-measures” are not enough to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“If Ukraine falls, everybody is very clear to understand: we will be next. Putin has no intention to stop, he wouldn’t be able to stop,” Landsbergis said ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, where they will be joined by the widow of Navalny.

Navalny, Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, died on Friday at the “Polar Wolf” Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence.

Dwindling ammunition threatens Ukraine’s hold on the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line under withering assault by Russian artillery. Defensive lines are in jeopardy.

Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk region after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.

Dwindling supplies of Western-supplied long-range artillery in particular means Ukrainian forces are inhibited from striking high-value targets deep behind Russian lines, where heavy equipment and personnel are accumulated.

For weeks, Ukrainian forces across the frontline have complained about critical shortages in ammunition, with some artillery batteries fighting with only 10 per cent of supply they need. Desperate to economise shells, military leaders ordered units to fire at only precise targets. But commanders on the ground say this is barely enough to restrain their better supplied enemy.

Concerns are growing that without military aid the fall of Avdiivka may be repeated in other parts of the frontline.

Addressing world leaders, diplomats and military officials gathered at the Munich Security Conference, Mr Zelensky warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened not just Europe but every country, as it was “war against any rules at all”.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in the early hours of 24 February two years ago, nobody knew how it would play out. Here author and Russia expert Mark Galeotti sifts through the carnage of the bloody conflict for clues as to what will happen next:

A dozen commanders in the Ukraine war’s most intense combat zones have spoken out about artillery shortages, an issue which has been present ever since Russia’s invasion two years ago and which is severely hampering Kyiv’s war effort.

The shortage of artillery ammunition grew particularly acute last autumn and in the weeks leading up to the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka’s critical coke plant, they say.

For weeks, Ukrainian forces across the frontline have complained about critical shortages in ammunition, with some artillery batteries fighting with only 10 per cent of the supply they need.

Desperate to economise shells, military leaders ordered units to fire at only precise targets. But commanders on the ground say this is barely enough to restrain their better supplied enemy.

Concerns are growing that, without military aid, the fall of Avdiivka may be repeated in other parts of the frontline.

Dwindling supplies of Western-supplied long-range artillery in particular means Ukrainian forces are inhibited from striking high-value targets deep behind Russian lines, where heavy equipment and personnel are accumulated.

Saving lives was the priority says Volodymyr Zelensky, as delays to military aid from the US will only add to pressures on the battlefield, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Kyiv

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Russia says its forces have taken full control of the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant, two days after Ukraine confirmed its withdrawal from the town.

Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday that Ukrainian units were still entrenched at the plant, which is on the northwestern edge of Avdiivka.

The sprawling plant complex was an important industrial asset before the start of the war, and has been the site of intense fighting as both countries battled for control of the strategically-placed town.

Ukrainian forces withdrew from the town on Saturday to protect its remaining soldiers from being encircled, and after daily Russian onslaughts from three directions for the last four months.

Avdiivka has been a frontline city ever since Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014, and the fortified settlement with a maze of trenches and tunnels served to protect important – and less easily defended – logistical hubs further west.

There is a stark generational divide between how the public see the various threats and how they should be dealt with – but the majority agree that the world is a less safe place than five years ago, new polling suggests.

Younger people believe that the war in Gaza should be the top foreign policy priority for the government, while the rest of the population believe that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the most important issue to address.