Ukraine updates: Russians repelled in Avdiivka
Published October 12, 2023last updated October 12, 2023
What you need to know
Ukraine says it has held off a Russian attack on the frontline town of Avdiivka in the eastern Donbas region.
Kyiv's claim appears to contradict Moscow, which says its forces have improved its position near the town.
Military analysts say Russia appeared to have suffered significant losses of equipment in the area.
In other news, Romanian authorities say they found a crater from a suspected drone being used to attack a nearby Ukrainian Danube port.
Here are the headlines concerning Russia's war in Ukraine on Thursday October 12:
Czechs and Danes team up to provide arms to Ukraine
The Czech Republic is to send tanks and other weapons to Ukraine in the coming months, paid for by Denmark.
The defense ministries of both countries announced the plan. Initially, the inventory includes 50 infantry fighting vehicles, 2,500 pistols, 7,000 rifles, 500 light machine guns, and 500 sniper rifles.
Danish Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen described the package as a "substantial donation" in which Ukraine has great interest.
The value of the arms deliveries was not detailed in the announcements. Some of the armaments were described as new, while some had been modernized by Czech industry.
Other items, including anti-tank weapons, are also planned for future delivery, with cooperation set to continue into next year and possibly beyond.
Kyiv says thwarted Russian saboteur crossing
Ukraine says it has foiled an overnight effort by a Russian saboteur group to cross its northeastern border in the Sumy region.
"The saboteurs tried to cross the state border of Ukraine and intended to move further towards one of the civilian critical infrastructure facilities," Serhiy Naev, commander of the joint forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
He said the eight-member group was repelled by Ukrainian fire and that there were no losses among Ukrainian troops.
Russian Olympic Committee excluded by world body
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says it has banned the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) with immediate effect for recognizing regional organizations from four territories annexed from Ukraine.
The IOC stipulated that the ROC would not be eligible for any funding after it recognized Olympic Councils from the regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia earlier this month.
However, the IOC said it would not affect any Russian athletes competing as neutrals.
Kyiv welcomed the ban on the ROC as "an important decision."
"We communicated with our partners that sports cannot be beyond politics when a terrorist country [Russia] commits genocide and uses athletes as propaganda," Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said on social media.
Romania says crater may be from Russian drone
Romanian officials say they have discovered an impact crater from a possible drone that exploded on the country's territory.
The crater is three kilometers (1.8 miles) west of Plauru, a village that lies across the Danube River from the Ukrainian port of Izmail. It was found before dawn on Thursday.
While the Romanian Defense Ministry said the drone appeared to have exploded on impact, it said it was not clear when the drone was launched and where it had come from. However, it said there were concerns that this was a spillover from Russian attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure.
"Heinous Russian attacks on Ukraine's civilian infrastructure had again serious consequences on Romania's territory," Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. She added that "new evidence of impact was found on Romania's soil."
"We call on Russia to stop these war crimes," she said. Romania has previously confirmed drone fragments on its soil in recent weeks. Officials said the parts resembled those from drones used by the Russian army.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called the drone fragment discoveries "an absolutely unacceptable violation of the sovereign airspace of Romania, a NATO ally, with real risks to the security of Romanian citizens in the area."
Recurring drone incidents have recently left some residents near the border nervous that the war could spill into their country.
Ukraine says it repelled Russia's Avdiivka attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv's forces had been "holding our ground" in the frontline eastern town of Avdiivka.
The claim comes after Moscow said it had improved its position in strategically important Avdiivka, which sits near the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.
"Avdiivka. We are holding our ground," Zelensky said on social media, sharing pictures from the town.
"It is Ukrainian courage and unity that will determine how this war will end," he said.
"Our defenders are courageously holding the defense," Andriy Kovalev, spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in televised comments. "They have repelled more than 10 enemy attacks in the Avdiivka area."
The town had about 31,000 inhabitants before the war and is dominated by a large coke fuel plant. Local officials say only about 1,600 civilians remain.
Avdiivka's mayor, Vitaliy Barabash said on television: "We withstood everything, we held our positions, all the attacks were repulsed. In some places (we) even tried to counterattack."
Barabash said the situation was "very tense." He said it had been the "largest offensive" on Avdiivka since last year's full-scale invasion.
"For the third day, the fighting around the town has not subsided, with shelling both on positions and on the town itself," the mayor said. He added that a missile attack had hit the town overnight.
rc/wd (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)