[29][30][31] After more than a year and a half of intermittent fighting along the city's outskirts, Russian forces launched an offensive to capture Avdiivka on 10 October 2023, resulting in what was considered one of the bloodiest and fiercest battles of the war.

Igor Girkin, who is a pro-war Russian nationalist but a regular critic of Russia's war effort in Ukraine, said at the time that the degraded DPR forces in the Avdiivka area were unlikely to make significant gains due to the threat of heavy Ukrainian artillery fire.

[84] In March 2023, a spokesman for Ukraine's Tavria military command warned that Avdiivka could become a "second Bakhmut" amid a report from British Defence Intelligence that Russian forces had made "creeping gains" around the city.

[111] In early November 2023, the pace of Russian assaults reportedly decreased to a "creeping offensive" as weather conditions deteriorated and heavy rains and mud complicated reconnaissance and logistics for both armies.

[121] Russian assaults toward Stepove were reportedly costly, as the open field between the village outskirts and the railway was a kill zone well within firing range from several Ukrainian brigades supported by artillery, drones and IFVS, resulting in tough clashes on this exposed salient.

[123] On 13 November, Russian troops advanced in the "Promka" industrial zone near Yasnynuvata Lane on Avdiivka's southern flank,[124] an important fortified frontline area located on a hill and held by Ukraine since 2014.

[128][129][130] In mid-November 2023, Ukrainian troops told Agence France-Presse they were using drones, grenades, mortars, artillery, and 25mm cannon fire from M2 Bradleys to defend against Russian infantry assaults, which they said were intended to "exhaust our lines with constant waves of attacks."

[143] By late November, Ukrainian forces were maintaining supply lines into Avdiivka amid harsh weather conditions and continuous Russian pressure from the north, east and south.

[154] The next day, 20 January, Col. Shtupun stated that after a week of "rather intense air raids involving a large number of guided aerial bombs" the Russians had temporarily postponed their airstrikes but were continuing their missile and artillery strikes on the city, speculating that potential causes ranged from routine maintenance, ammunition shortages or adverse weather conditions.

[155] On 20 January 2024, Russian forces broke through Ukrainian defenses in southern Avdiivka, capturing the fortified "Tsarska Okhota" restaurant and advancing up to 1.2 km north along Soborna Street.

Beginning around 15 January, reconnaissance teams then used the 1.3-1.4 metres high passage to infiltrate "about a kilometer" forward and conduct sneak attacks on Ukrainian positions, with varying degrees of success.

[158] Combat footage of kamikaze drone strikes by the 110th Mechanized Brigade, the primary Ukrainian formation defending Avdiivka, showed that Russian troops had entered into urban areas.

Dmytro Riumshyn, the commander of Ukraine's 47th Mechanized Brigade, alleged that the Russians were deploying regular troops, sabotage groups, as well as "Storm-Z" and "Storm-V" penal units in the city.

"[184] Russian forces cut off Ukraine's main ground line of communication (GLOC) through Industrialnyi Avenue and also advanced northwest from the autobase and private sector directions towards the crossroads with the O0542 road to Lastochkyne.

[186] The "Zenit" fortification, a bastion of trenches, defensive works and an underground bunker located east of Opytne, had anchored Avdiivka's southern flank, preventing any direct assault from the immediate south for years.

A 3rd Brigade commander alleged that the Russians used incendiary munitions to ignite storage tanks, resulting in toxic smoke from burning hazardous chemicals blanketing the city and coke plant.

The 1st Battalion successfully pushed the Russians back to the railway line, but overwhelming artillery fire prevented them from holding their new positions, forcing them to ultimately abandon the assault and retreat westwards, rendezvousing with the rest of the 3rd Brigade at the coke plant.

When evacuating the plant, they destroyed sensitive materials in their command post such as maps, orders, shift schedules, personal documents with names, handwritten notes with coordinates, and even disposed of leftover food.

"[146] Early on 17 February, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi confirmed that Ukrainian forces were completely withdrawing from Avdiivka to "more favourable lines" as to "avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of service personnel".

[209] On 27 February, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria operational-strategic group, stated the defense line had "stabilised" along the Tonenke-Orlivka-Berdychi axis,[210][211][212] although pro-Russian sources claimed Russian troops had entered the outskirts of all three settlements by early March.

In addition, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential administration, told TV Rain that Russia had lost between 5,000 and 6,000 troops in just over a week of their offensive in Avdiivka, as well as 400 armored vehicles.

[235][236][237] On 13 December, an officer in the Freedom of Russia Legion, based on data from the Ukrainian MoD, claimed that the Russians had lost 30,000 dead in their attempts to take the city, with half of these occurring before October 2023.

[222][223][224] U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, in a briefing on 26 October 2023, reported that fresh Russian troops were being thrown into the battle "under-trained, under-equipped, and unprepared for combat," in "human wave" attacks.

The closest historical parallel was the Siege of Petersburg in the American Civil War, in which Union forces lost 42,000 killed and wounded, while the Confederate Army suffered 28,000 casualties (with another 25,000 deserting) in 10 months against a local population of 18,000.

[290] Seth G. Jones, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, called Russian tactics in Avdiivka "a textbook punishment campaign, which they have orchestrated in Chechnya, Syria, Ukraine and even Afghanistan ...

[252] Many Western observers, including United States National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, attributed Russian success in Avdiivka in early 2024 to Ukrainian ammunition shortages resultant of the US Congress delaying military aid since October 2023.

[184] Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, similarly attributed the loss of Avdiivka to not receiving artillery supplies from allies on time, specifically urging the United States government to approve more aid.

Forte wrote that the loss of Avdiivka was a "bitter pill to swallow" for the Ukrainians but the successful withdrawal preserved "experienced manpower and meaningful military capacity that can be brought to bear in the future.

[300][30] The New York Times similarly wrote that even if Ukraine stabilized its frontline in the rear of Avdiivka, control of the city allowed for improved Russian military logistics in Donetsk Oblast in support of future ground advances.

[4] Retired United States Army general and former CIA director David Petraeus, however, dismissed the strategic and logistical value of Avdiivka, saying that the destroyed city hosted "no major highway or railroad, or other hub that still operates and passes through the area."