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According to Ukraine, these are the heaviest battles of the year: the battle for Avdiivka. For months, Russia has been intensively attacking the strategically located city in the Donetsk region. At a high price, the Russian army is slowly gaining ground and the city is being cut off from the outside world. The city could fall at any moment. In this video, we look at how the Russian offensive is progressing. For this research, we used images of the battle around Avdiivka on social media. We collected images via Telegram, X and YouTube. The videos come from Ukrainian and Russian soldiers and brigades who are themselves fighting in or around Avdiivka or from military bloggers. It is important to realize that these sources paint an incomplete picture, because both sides mainly share positive information for them. We verified the images by determining the location as precisely as possible and checking the time of recording where possible. To map the material losses on both the Russian and Ukrainian sides, we used the joint database of Oryx and WarSpotting (https://ukr.warspotting.net and https://www.oryxspioenkop.com/). The examples you see in the video have also been verified by us using additional information from GeoConfirmed, a research platform that focuses on the war in Ukraine. We have visualized the shifts at the front thanks to data we received from the American Institute for the Study of War. 00:00 Intro 01:10 Why Avdiivka? 07:52 The Russian tactic 12:38 Urban battles 17:14 The last remains Also follow us on Instagram: / nieuwsuur At Nieuwsuur you can find a new video every Saturday. We provide depth and context. We monitor the power. Respectfully and critically. At Nieuwsuur you see compelling stories that touch you and make you think.