\n
Most of the people in the city fled under the relentless Russian bombardment. Of the prewar population of 36,000, not many more than 1,000 people remain, officials said. \u201cMost of them are pensioners,\u201d said Lyuty, the commander of a special forces unit of the Interior Ministry in the city. He was scathing about civilians who refused to leave, saying they put themselves and his men at risk.<\/p>\n
Ukrainian reconnaissance teams saw signs of a Russian buildup around Avdiivka in the weeks before the first attack on Oct. 10, said Baloo, commander of the brigade\u2019s drone unit. The number amounted to at least three brigades, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMilitary vehicles and armor were gathering,\u201d he said. \u201cLots of civilians cars too, which looked like commanders were arriving in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Russians followed a predictable pattern, Ukrainian soldiers said, opening the battle with heavy artillery and aerial bombardment and then advancing in columns of armored vehicles. They were well prepared, sending demining equipment forward first to clear the way and groups of armored vehicles racing in behind to drop off infantry.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
But with fleets of drones in the air, the Ukrainians saw their advance and began targeting the vehicles on the approaches, the commanders said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an important task, as all drone units do,\u201d said Baloo. \u201cWe have to locate and dispose of the enemy before they attack.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Over the last year Russian forces have been steadily pushing in a pincer movement to encircle Avdiivka, focusing the main thrust of their recent assaults on closing the last six-mile gap that would cut Ukrainian access to the city. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
Russian troops attacked from the northeast to try to cut the main road at the village of Berdichi. From the southwest, other forces pushed up toward the village of Sieverne, which lies on a smaller road into the city.<\/p>\n
Russian soldiers broke through to Ukrainian positions in tree lines in the northwest, and began scaling the waste heap that overlooks the coke plant.<\/p>\n
The fighting was so intense the first day that the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade began running low on drones and called on the 109th brigade, positioned nearby, for reinforcements.<\/p>\n
For a day and half, a drone pilot, call sign Boomer, and his navigator, Grek, joined the fight, zooming in on advancing Russian infantry from a bunker on the edge of the battlefield. A third team member loaded their drones with explosives and launched them into the air.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were pushing them back but during the night they were sending in fresh soldiers,\u201d Boomer said of the Russian forces. \u201cWe killed so many we ran out of stocks.\u201d The unit had to call volunteers to send more drones, he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
On the third day of fighting, Oct. 12, they started to see Russians fleeing. Boomer played a video he had saved on his cellphone of a Russian soldier running way from a bunker. \u201cHe understands he will die if he stays there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
After three days of ferocious fighting, there was a lull. The drone team scoured Russian positions for targets. They showed footage of their hits on a reserve tank set back from the frontline and a van hidden in a farmyard that they said was ferrying drones and equipment to Russian forces. Then Russian troops attacked again on Oct. 19.<\/p>\n
In the tree lines on the edges of the city, soldiers are fighting hand-to-hand, as the Russians have stormed trenches and the Ukrainians have counterattacked. But much of the battle at Avdiivka is being fought remotely from bunkers and hidden positions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
In a well-constructed underground bunker, set well back from the frontline, commanders of the 1st Strike Battalion of the 59th Mechanized Brigade monitored the fighting on a bank of video screens livestreaming different views of the battlefield. <\/p>\n
One screen showed the bodies of Russian soldiers splayed at awkward angles on an empty road. \u201cOne is still alive,\u201d said Bardak, the battalion\u2019s head of reconnaissance. The wounded soldier moved, raising an arm, and then fell back.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s dead,\u201d a duty officer said. <\/p>\n
Even as they recounted successes on the battlefield, Ukrainian soldiers did not play down Russian strengths.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n