Victory Chronicles-DAY 607

Persistent Russian strikes on the road leading to Avdiivka in Donetsk Oblast have impeded evacuation and humanitarian aid deliveries to the city. “The logistics are highly problematic. The 22 kilometers to the city are constantly under fire, both day and night. Therefore, this greatly complicates the evacuation and the delivery of humanitarian aid. All the logistics are through one road. Of course, the enemy is trying to sever it. The enemy is trying to hold it under constant fire. Whenever they have the opportunity, and the weather permits, they launch Orlan uncrewed aerial vehicles to watch the road. Any movement is a trigger for them to open fire,” said Vitalii Barabash, Head of Avdiivka City Military Administration, on Radio Liberty.

The official stated there had been no evacuation over the past three days. And not due to the risks of Russian strikes but because people are unwilling to leave. 1,601 people remain in the city as of the morning of October 23.

Russia attacked Ukraine overnight on October 23 with 13 Shahed-type drones, a Kh-59 guided missile and an unidentified type of drone. All of these aerial targets were shot down. “Thanks to the successful combat work of anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups, and Air Force aviation, in cooperation with the Air Defence of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, all air targets were destroyed, including 13 Shahed-136/131 UAVs, 1 Kh-59 guided aerial missile and one attack UAV (type not defined),” reported Ukraine’s Air Force.

All six people killed in a Russian attack on a post office in Kharkiv Oblast on Oct. 21 have been identified, Serhii Bolvinov, the head of the investigative department of the regional police, said on Oct. 22. Identifying the sixth person required DNA analysis, as the body was “badly burned,” Bolvinov told local media outlet Suspilne Kharkiv. Russia attacked the postal depot in the village of Korotych on the evening of Oct. 21. The depot belongs to Nova Poshta, Ukraine’s largest private postal company.

According to the Kharkiv Oblast Prosecutor, Russian forces used S-300 missiles in the strike, which injured 17 other civilians. Most of those injured, who were aged 19 to 42, received shrapnel injuries. “This is an exclusively civilian object; the Russians committed yet another terror against the civilian population of Kharkiv Oblast,” Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Nova Poshta has announced a day of mourning for the dead employees.

Russian Attack on Avdiivka goes Wrong Ukraine troops demolish Russians tanks with heavy artillery. In recent days, some of the hottest clashes on the front line have been taking place in the vicinity of Avdiivka. Russian invaders are trying to surround the city, but Ukrainian fighters are repelling enemy attacks. 

Russian forces are funneling additional forces to the Avdiivka front despite ongoing challenges with frontal mechanized assaults and the failure of a renewed push on October 19-20. Several Russian milbloggers claimed that there were no significant changes along the front in the Avdiivka direction on October 22.

Russian forces are likely once again pausing following a failed major push which suffered heavy losses. A prominent Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces “unexpectedly” counterattacked in the direction of Pisky (8km southwest of Donetsk City) and pushed Russian forces from positions in the area. Another milblogger stated that claims of Ukrainian advances near Pisky and Opytne (4km south of Avdiivka) are false.

Another Russian source allegedly serving in the Avdiivka direction claimed that Ukrainian forces did not conduct counterattacks in his unspecified sector of the front. Geolocated footage published on October 21 indicates that Russian forces recently made marginal advances southeast of Pervomaiske (11km southwest of Avdiivka). A Russian milblogger claimed that Russian forces have not completely cleared the Avdiivka waste heap area and that the area is currently a contested “gray zone.”

Ukrainian sources stated that Russian forces continue to transfer personnel to the Avdiivka direction to support offensive efforts despite heavy losses. Ukrainian Tavriisk Group of Forces Spokesperson Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun stated that the Russian military is deploying personnel from Russian territory directly to the Avdiivka direction to replace personnel losses. Ukrainian military observer Kostyantyn Mashovets stated that the Russian military command has recently transferred several Russian regiments comprised of mobilized personnel to the Avdiivka direction, indicating that Russia likely does not plan to abandon operations in this direction.

Mashovets noted that the Russian military also transferred elements of the 57th Motorized Rifle Regiment (6th Motorized Rifle Division, 3rd Army Corps, Western Military District) to the Spartak-Yakolivka-Minerale-Kashtanove area (4km south to 5km southeast of Avdiivka).

Maksym Naumenko, with the call sign “DJ”, a fighter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a well-known DJ from Uzhhorod, was killed in the war. The defender fought his last battle on October 11 near Donetsk.

His wife Diana Borisova reported this on her Facebook page on October 21. “Now there are only memories left. Max DJ died on October 11, 2023, near Donetsk,” she wrote. His friends also shared their memories of the deceased.

“A cheerful reggae artist, DJ Max Rudskoi from Uzhhorod, died in the Donetsk sector. We worked on the same stage at so many Craft Vinyl festivals, hugged and danced to your ‘Jamaica,'” wrote Andriy Zholob, a military doctor and leader of the punk rock band Beton, on his Facebook page. “It’s a shame that the most talented and best people are leaving us. He loved life, music and Ukraine,” wrote cameraman Nazar Budz.

Maksym Naumenko moved with his wife from Donetsk to Zakarpattia in 2014. In Uzhhorod, he continued to do what he loved. “I’m glad to live here. It’s a pity that this happened… I already had an audience in Uzhhorod that wanted to hear me. They became my social circle. I socialized here, and now I have more friends in Uzhhorod than in Donetsk,” Naumenko told journalists in 2015. Later, he and his wife had a daughter. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Maksym Naumenko volunteered to join the border troops.

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