Avdiivka: ‘Post-Apocalyptic’ City on Ukraine’s Front Line

Avdiivka, a Ukrainian town in Donetsk Oblast, is located just 13 kilometres / 8 miles from Donetsk (regional centre), occupied in 2014. Due to the ongoing shelling, life has almost completely stopped here.

The occupiers continue to destroy streets and houses. Residents are forced to hide in basements as Russian aircraft and artillery destroy all civilian infrastructure. Residential buildings, schools, and a chemical plant are just a few of the objects ruined since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Approximately 2,000 civilians live here, while the city’s pre-war population was over 30,000. Locals compare their city to a place from a post-apocalyptic film due to the enormous destruction.

The issues faced by Avdiivka residents are the same: where to find food, wood for the stove, how to ventilate basements, and when it’s safe just outside to charge power banks and phones without being shelled.

In late March 2023, the local military administration evacuated the utility workers from Avdiivka, who, despite the bombing and missile attacks were trying to keep the city clean and alive.

According to the head of the Avdiivka city military administration, Vitaliy Barabash, the city’s infrastructure has been completely devastated, while the housing stock is more than 80% damaged. Most buildings are so damaged that they are unsuitable for restoration or repair and require only demolition and rebuilding. So far, not a single building has been left undamaged.

The White Angel police evacuation team is currently working. The police officers are Gennadiy Yudin and Dmitry Soloviy, natives of Avdiivka, who help the locals and evacuate people from the war zone.

Why does Avdiivka matter?

The situation is extremely difficult and tense. Enemy missiles and air bombs often shell the city. The Russian occupiers have been trying to capture Avdiivka since 2014. Ukraine’s defence forces continue to hold the line and prevent the attack.

Russian troops’ occupation of the city could lead to the retreat of Ukrainian troops from Donetsk and allow the Russian army to continue its advance closer to the administrative borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Latest updates from Avdiivka

• A week ago, due to security concerns, journalists were not allowed to enter the city, and later, rescuers and 25% of the utility companies left the city;
• mobile communication is available for about 10–12 hours a day;
• two doctors, several nurses and paramedics are assisting in the hospital;
• Russian terrorists shelled Avdiivka on 3 April. The occupiers hit a bus with a driver and a passenger, the woman died at the site of the accident, according to the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration Pavlo Kyrylenko;
• Radio Svoboda reported, citing the head of Avdiivka MA, that civilians do not want to evacuate Avdiivka and are hiding their children.

See also

• Vuhledar: life in a mining town on the front line. It is a tiny area in Volnovakha district of Donetsk Oblast with a pre-war population of about 15,000. Before the invasion, it was not an ideal place to live; the town depended on two coal mines. Suddenly, the miners’ salaries were delayed, causing outrage among the miners.
• Bakhmut: how an unbreakable city continues to struggle. It’s quite loud in Bakhmut, you can hear shots from various weapons. The artillery does not stop even for a minute. Sometimes you may hear the sounds of Russian planes.
• How Kharkiv residents make city safer: relive project reconstructs basements. About 18,000 buildings were destroyed by shelling in Kharkiv city and oblast during the year, and more than 1,700 civilians were killed.