Live blog: Ukraine's positions at Avdiivka still 'protected': Zelenskyy

Sunday, October 22, 2023

Ukraine's positions around the frontline city of Avdiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region, are "protected", President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The city has been the centre of intense fighting in recent weeks as each side struggles to advance along the frontlines. Ukraine's general staff said on Friday that Russia had stepped up its military assault on Avdiivka in an ongoing bid to encircle and capture it.

"The Avdiivka and Maryinka directions are particularly tough," Zelenskyy said.

"Numerous attacks by Russians. But our positions are protected."

Avdiivka has been a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since 2014, after it briefly fell to Russian-backed separatists.

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1757 GMT — Russian missile attack kills 6 people in postal center in Kharkiv

A missile strike on a mail depot in the eastern city of Kharkiv killed six people, Ukrainian officials said, as Ukraine reported a record number of bomb attacks in the southern Kherson region.

A further 17 people were wounded in the blast late Saturday, which is believed to have been caused by a Russian S-300 rocket, Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on social media.

"The victims, aged between 19 and 42, received shrapnel wounds and blast injuries," he said.

All of the victims were employees of private Ukrainian postal and courier service Nova Poshta.

In a statement, Nova Poshta said the air raid siren had sounded just moments before the attack, leaving those inside the depot with no time to reach shelter.

It announced that would be a day of mourning for the firm.

Zelenskyy described the strike as an attack on an “ordinary civilian object.”

1554 GMT — Downed three Ukraine missiles targeting Crimea: Russia

Russian forces shot down three missiles targeting the Crimean Peninsula, which Moscow annexed illegally from Ukraine in 2014, a Russian official said.

The peninsula is crucial to Russia's military offensive, both for supplying troops in southern Ukraine and for carrying out missile strikes from the sea.

It is a regular target for Kiev, and attacks on military installations there have intensified as Ukraine vows to recapture the peninsula.

"Three enemy missiles heading toward Crimea were downed" in the Kherson region, the Moscow-installed official in the zone, Vladimir Saldo, said on Telegram.

Moscow said one Russian serviceman missing after the attack, which heavily damaged the building, while Kiev claimed that the strike killed more than thirty officers.

0538 GMT — Ukraine destroys six Russian drones, cruise missile — Kiev

Ukraine's air defence systems destroyed six Russia-launched attack drones and a cruise missile overnight, Ukraine's Air Force has said.

Russia launched nine cruise missiles on Ukraine in total, according to the nation's force.

2100 GMT — A Russian missile has hit a postal distribution centre in Ukraine's second largest city Kharkiv, killing six people and wounding14, Kharkiv region Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

Regional prosecutors, quoted by Ukraine's public broadcaster, said two missiles struck a postal distribution centre on in an attack that killed six people.

A spokesperson for the prosecutors, Dmytro Chubenko, said those killed had been working at the facility during the attack.

For our live updates from Saturday (October 21), click here.