Before Avdiivka, 3 Ukrainian towns fell to Russia since 2022 invasion

Nearly two years after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian army recorded a key victory after they claimed that the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka is now under the Kremlin’s control.

“The units of the Tsentr Group of Forces under the command of Colonel General Andrei Mordvichyov have taken full control of Avdeevka (Donetsk People’s Republic), which was a powerful defensive node of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

It said that its troops have advanced 8.6 km in that part of the 1,000 km front line. “At present, measures are being taken to finally clear the city of militants, block Ukrainian units that left the city and settled at the Avdeevka Coke Plant,” it added. Russia and Ukraine spell the names of certain cities differently.

Russian President Vladimir Putin “congratulated Russian soldiers on this success, an important victory,” said the Kremlin.

Here’s a look at the key Ukrainian cities captured by the Moscow military since the invasion.

📌 Bakhmut: The fall of Avdiivka is one of Russia’s biggest military gains since it claimed hold of the city of Bakhmut in May 2023. The capture of Bakhmut was a key part of Putin’s goal to control the entire Donetsk Oblast. It cleared the way for Russia to open its attacks on nearby cities of Siversk, Kostyantynivka, Kramatorsk, and Dnipro, said an Associated Press report.

“The myth that Artyomovsk is an unassailable fortress has been crushed,” an AP report quoted an anchor on Channel One, Russia’s most popular state broadcaster, as saying. Artyomovsk is an old Soviet name for Bakhmut.

📌 Zaporizhzhia: The city of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine has been an integral site of conflict between Russia and Ukraine as it was home to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

The city has been under Russian control since March 2022 and the fighting near the power plant has caused immense concern, though it is currently not functional.

📌Mariupol: Russia captured the port city of Mariupol, near the Sea of Azov, in May 2022 after nearly three months of extended siege. At least 10,000 people were killed and thousands of buildings were destroyed during the siege and fighting, as per a Human Rights Watch report. In a particularly gruesome incident, several civilians, including children, were killed in a bombing of the iconic Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater where they had taken refuge. Satellite imagery of the phrase “children” written in Cyrillic letters outside the theatre was widely shared.

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