Russian losses in the shattered eastern town of Avdiivka are likely to undermine its overall war effort, Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

The Ukrainian president said Russian assaults in the eastern Donetsk region including Avdiivka had been “very intense” but added that the defence of  Avdiivka was key to Kyiv’s war plans.

“Russia is already losing men and equipment near Avdiivka faster and on a larger scale than, for example, near Bakhmut,” Mr Zelensky said, citing the eastern town captured by Russian forces in May after months of heavy fighting.

“Withstanding their pressure is extremely difficult ... The more Russian forces that are destroyed near Avdiivka, the worse the overall situation will be for the enemy and the overall course of this war.”

Mt Zelensky’s chief of staff, meanwhile, acknowledged for the first time that Ukraine’s forces in the southern Kherson region had established a foothold on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, potentially opening a new line of attack towards occupied Crimea.

Moscow’s forces have focused on eastern Ukraine since failing to advance on Kyiv in the first days of the invasion. They have taken aim at Avdiivka since mid-October and officials from the town, which had a pre-war population of 32,000, say not a single building remains intact.

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