The Russians were already so close that the road to the Avdiivka coke and chemical plant was only dared taken at night. Vehicle headlights were shut off and covered, hoping to prevent glare visible to an enemy drone hovering overhead,
The Washington Post reports.
As fighters from the Ukrainian Security Service’s “Alpha” special forces branch drove through the blackness with night-vision goggles last week, Washington Post journalists riding along saw only an occasional flash of light on the horizon — from yet more explosions in the besieged city, which is now the focus of the most pitched fighting in the war. The Russian drone above could not be seen, but a handheld device confirmed its presence.
The ruined coke and chemical plant, once an economic pillar in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, is likely to be the last Ukrainian stronghold in Avdiivka, which has been embattled since 2014. Ukrainian troops say it is just a matter of time before they will have to surrender the city, and on Thursday the military said forces had already pulled back from some positions as the Russians have begun advancing rapidly.
