The enemy is considering the town of Avdiyivka, Pokrovsky district, Donetsk region, as a chance to achieve a landmark victory and turn the tide in hostilities, Spokesperson for the Joint Press Center of the Tavria Defense Forces Oleksandr Shtupun has said.

"The enemy is considering Avdiyivka as an opportunity to achieve some kind of a landmark victory and turn the tide in hostilities. Although at the beginning of the full-scale invasion Avdiyivka was treated by the enemy as something insignificant, today the seizure or encirclement of Avdiyivka for it is almost the biggest achievement at this stage," he said on the air of the national telethon on Thursday.

The enemy has been actively using aircraft and continuing offensive operations, the spokesperson said. Over the past 24 hours, Russian forces inflicted one missile strike and 39 air strikes, and 51 combat clashed occurred. The enemy also mounted 930 artillery attacks.

Shtupun emphasized that the enemy has thrown a lot of infantry forces and numerous armored vehicles exactly on the Avdiyivka direction.

"Our defenders actively destroy the enemy and its hardware en masse. As of now, a significantly smaller number of armored vehicles has been observed, however, the enemy infantry is trying to advance," he said.

Shtupun also noted that the Ukrainian fighters continue offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.

"The tactical position in the western vicinity of Robotyne has been improved," he said.