Russia-Ukraine war: troops ‘stoutly holding’ Avdiivka against Russian encirclement

Russian forces reinforced by reserves continue to attempt to encircle Avdiivka, Ukrainian military officials have said.

A spokesman for the 110th separate mechanised brigade, said a Russian force of 40,000 was massed on three sides of the town.

Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, head of Ukraine’s southern group of forces, said troops around Avdiivka were “stoutly holding their defences”.

A Russian missile damaged a civilian vessel under a Liberian flag entering the Black Sea port of Odesa, killing one and injuring four people, the Ukrainian military said.

Ukraine battling Russia for eastern border town as US ‘rushes’ arms to front line

---

Putin praises Xi Jinping’s proposals for ending war in Ukraine ahead of two-day visit to China

---

Restrictions on benefits to refugees could place people in ‘vulnerable scenarios’, warns Irish Red Cross

---

‘I’m working. I have two jobs’: Ukrainians play down impact of welfare cuts

---

The vessel was supposed to transport iron ore to China, Ukraine infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said, adding Russia carried out 21 targeted attacks on port infrastructure after withdrawing from the deal.

After pulling out of the UN-brokered deal that guaranteed safe shipments of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea, Russia has been repeatedly attacking Ukrainian port infrastructure.

Russia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to fight against their own side, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported.

Yulia Gorbunova from Human Rights Watch said: “Russian authorities might claim they are recruiting them on a voluntary basis but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a prisoner of war’s decision could be taken truly voluntarily, given the situation of coercive custody.”

Elsewhere, a deadly missile attack on Donetsk city struck a Russian training centre for military drone operators, reports said. It was portrayed by Russian occupation authorities on Tuesday as a Ukrainian attack on civilian government offices, but analysis identified the target as the “Zhoga Republican Centre for Unmanned Systems”, Newsweek and other outlets said.

Ukraine’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed lawmaker with a car bomb in the occupied eastern city of Luhansk, an operation it said it conducted with local resistance forces. – Guardian