Avdiivka: The strategic and symbolic Ukrainian city at the centre of the war

Avdiivka is becoming a symbol for Ukraine's battle against the Russian onslaught, with some of the fiercest fighting of the war now taking place in the city.

Russian and Ukrainian forces are going toe-to-toe in the city, which has real strategic value.

Avdiivka sits inside a bulge of Ukrainian-held territory on the edge of the Donbas, but is surrounded on three sides by Russian forces.

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However, from here Ukrainian artillery and missiles can hit Donetsk, and the city is seen as the gateway to the southern Donbas.

If Ukrainian forces lose control of the city, retaking the occupied territory in that region will be far more difficult, hence Russia's determination to take Avdiivka.

This will also push the frontline back and allow Russia to make more use of Donetsk.

Much of the fighting is around the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant, which was once the largest in Europe, which controls the northern approach to the city.

If the plant falls, the city's defences would almost certainly collapse.

Russia has sent two infantry brigades to the city and in October it launched a series of frontal assaults.

Russian forces also tried attacking from the south of Ukrainian-held territory in an attempt to encircle the Ukrainian defenders.

Ukraine's 110th Mechanised Brigade, which is made up of around 2,000 soldiers, managed to hold them off and Kyiv rushed in reinforcements from Zaporizhzhia.

This saw elements of the 47th Mechanised Brigade head to the city, this being one of Ukraine's best armoured units equipped with Leopard tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

The fighting has been costly for both sides, particularly for the Russians because of their tactic of launching frontal assaults.

The 100th Brigade claims it killed 800 Russian troops in the first two weeks of fighting and Ukraine's Commander-in- Chief, General Valeri Zaluzhny, said 10,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured.

Other estimates suggest up to 4,000 Russians have died in the fighting.

Gen Zaluzhny said the enemy had also lost 100 tanks, 250 armoured vehicles and seven Su-25 ground attack jets.

Even so, the Russians have managed to establish a foothold on the other side and have destroyed some of the 47th Mechanised's Western-supplied armour, including a Leopard tank.

But the defenders still hold the city and their job now is to keep it without forcing Ukraine to send more reinforcements from other areas of the front.