Avdiivka closed for volunteers and press as situation deteriorates

Vitalii Barabash, head of the Avdiivka city military administration, said on March 27 that due to the worsening situation in the city, entry to the front-line city in Donetsk Oblast is now prohibited for journalists and volunteers.

“There is an order – a direct ban on entering the city,” Barabash reported.

He called on media representatives and volunteers not to violate this ban by trying to enter the city.

Previously, on March 26, Barabash stated that in total about 2,000 civilians, including seven children, still live in the city, which has no water and electricity supply and is constantly under Russian shelling.

“Unfortunately, children still remain in the city. There are irresponsible parents who hide their children and don’t want to leave the city.”

The industrial city of Avdiivka, located five kilometers north of Russian-occupied Donetsk, has been a target of Russian attacks since 2014, when Russia first invaded Ukraine.

Prior, on Feb. 13, aid workers and civilians were barred by the Ukrainian military from entering the city of Bakhmut as Russian forces established fire control over the last remaining roads into the city.

With Russian forces making recent gains on the flanks of Avdiivka, Ukrainian military spokesperson Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi acknowledged on March 20 that the city could become a “second Bakhmut.”

Surviving Avdiivka: Russia intensifies assault on city deemed a ‘second Bakhmut’

AVDIIVKA, Donetsk Oblast – Avdiivka is an eerie city to drive into in March 2023. One year into Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, but nine years into the Donbas war, the compact city just 10 kilometers from the center of occupied Donetsk is barely holding on. There is little choice

Kyiv IndependentFrancis Farrell