Russia Ukraine war news: Putin’s ‘exhausted’ troops ‘suffer significant losses in key town Avdiivka’

Russian troops are “exhausted” after suffering “significant” losses following their major attack on the key Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, a US war think tank has said.

Russian and Ukrainian forces fought fierce battles around the strategically important eastern town for a third day after Moscow launched one of its biggest military offensives in months.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Thursday that Vladimir Putin’s troops are subsequently “exhausted”, according to Russian “Vostok” Battalion Commander Alexander Khodakovsky, who is now even “advocating for Russian forces to freeze the frontlines in Ukraine” in order to make replacements.

The ISW added that, in the face of relentless attacks, Ukrainian forces have managed to destroy at least 36 Russian armoured vehicles, including tanks, according to a Ukrainian reserve officer.

Avdiivka is described as a gateway to the city of Donetsk, the capital of the Donbas region, and has become a symbol of resistance since Russia’s invasion.

Russia has been suspended by the Olympic authorities with immediate effect after it tried to include four regions in eastern Ukraine under its sporting jurisdiction.

The land grab in sports administration saw Russia’s Olympic officials announce last week that they were accepting the local sports councils of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia as new members.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced Russia’s suspension saying the move by the Russian Olympic Committee was a breach of the Olympic Charter, a set of rules and principles for international sports bodies.

French police are investigating the suspected poisoning of a Russian state TV journalist who denounced Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine live on air and later fell suddenly ill.

Marina Ovsyannikova, who escaped Russia after her on-air protest and settled in France, reported feeling suddenly ill as she left her Paris apartment and was hospitalised after she called emergency services.

She said she suspected she was poisoned, the Paris prosecutor’s office said, adding that they were examining her apartment and an investigation was underway.

The village of Velyka Novosilka, in the south of the Donetsk region has been almost reduced to ruins:

A 72-year-old woman takes care of her sick husband, 75, who spent more than a year in the basement of their home in Velyka Novosilka, Donetsk region.

The town has been constantly shelled since the beginning of Russia’s invasion. Before the war, it had a population of around 6,000. Today only around 600-700 people still live there, without electricity or water, and constantly taking cover from shelling in basements.

This is how Marina Ovsyannikova put her career, her family – and even her life – on the line last March, to tell Russian viewers they were being lied to by state television:

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of wanting the worst-case scenario in the Middle East.

“I am grateful to everyone worldwide who is making efforts to prevent an explosion in the Middle East, and to hold terrorists accountable for their actions in Israel—against children and women, against ordinary people,” he said in his nightly address.

It was important to continue to deprive Russia of its ability to finance aggression through energy resources, he said.

The US has cobbled together radars and other parts contributed by various countries to build a new missile launcher for Ukraine, in a Frankenstein-like programme for surface-to-air missiles:

The Russian Olympic Committee was banned with immediate effect on Thursday for recognising regional organisations from four territories annexed from Ukraine, the International Olympic Committee said.

The IOC added the ROC would not be eligible for any funding after it recognised earlier this month Olympic Councils from the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia but that it would not affect any Russian athletes competing as neutrals.

“The unilateral decision taken by the Russian Olympic Committee on 5 October 2023 to include, as its members, the regional sports organisations which are under the authority of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Ukraine (namely Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia) constitutes a breach of the Olympic Charter,” the IOC said in a statement.