Big attack by Russian army in Ukraine, five people died

Russian shelling in northern Ukraine killed four people in two villages in the Sumy region near the Russian border, while a woman was killed in a fresh attack on the devastated town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. Local administration of the Sumy region said three people were killed in mortar fire in the village of Znov-Novohorodske. The fourth was killed in another village in the southeast. Reuters could not confirm the reports, but officials in the Sumy region report daily attacks by Russian forces.

Public broadcaster Saspilne said a woman died after suffering serious injuries in afternoon shelling in the Ukrainian-held town of Avdiivka, near the front line. Avdiivka was briefly seized in 2014 by pro-Russian forces who had captured large swathes of territory in eastern Ukraine, but it was recaptured by Ukrainian troops manning the fortifications. Despite fierce attacks since mid-October, Russia’s slow advance into eastern Ukraine remains in Ukrainian hands. Virtually none of the city’s buildings remain intact.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its evening report that Ukrainian forces had repulsed 13 Russian attacks in and around Avdiivka over the past 24 hours. Military officials have reported an increase in Russian military activity in recent days along long stretches of the 1,000-kilometre-long (600 mi) front line through eastern and southern Ukraine. On the southern front, military spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk told a briefing that Ukrainian forces were expanding their hold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River in late October despite intensified Russian attacks.