The village forms part of the Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line, located to the northwest of the town. Over the past 24-hour period, Ukrainian forces have lost over 320 soldiers, a tank, four other armored and up to seven unarmored vehicles, according to Moscow’s estimates.

Earlier this week, the Russian military announced the liberation of Orlovka, effectively cutting the line in half and disrupting Ukrainian communications between Tonenkoye and Berdychi, with the latter continuing to see active combat.

The Ukrainian military has claimed it established stable defensive positions along the Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line following the fall of Avdeevka. The defenses are primarily based on a system of ponds and canals stretching along the three villages.

Nevertheless, the combat situation along the line has promptly escalated, with the Ukrainians actively pouring reserves into the area, seeking to stabilize the front line. According to the Russian side, Kiev’s forces have been losing some 400 soldiers in the area daily, after repeatedly staging unsuccessful counterattacks.

The Orlovka-Tonenkoye-Berdychi line has seen the combat debut of US-supplied M1 Abrams tanks, which had long remained in reserve. A batch of 31 tanks was pledged to Kiev by the Pentagon early last year for a long-hyped yet ultimately disastrous summer counteroffensive. The tanks fully arrived in Ukraine only in mid-autumn, by which time the push was largely over. Prior to the fall of Avdeevka, the tanks had stayed away from the front line, starring in Ukrainian propaganda videos rather than participating in actual combat. At least four tanks of the type have been destroyed since late February, according to the Russian military.

The air force announced its defences shot down all the inbound missiles that were fired after a 44-day pause in such attacks on the Ukrainian capital. The damage appeared to have been caused by falling debris.

“Every day and every night there is such terror. The world’s unity can stop it when it helps us with air defence systems. Now we need this defence here in Ukraine,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

City and regional officials said at least 13 people were injured in different parts of Kyiv and four more in the surrounding region. An 11-year-old girl was among four people taken to hospital, city officials added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Kyiv last week of launching attacks to disrupt the Russian presidential election that handed him six more years in power. The Kremlin leader warned Ukraine would be punished for that.

Russia, which denies targeting civilians, invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and has launched thousands of missiles and drones on Ukrainian cities and villages in attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians.

The Ukrainian military has reported Russia launched over 8,000 missiles on Ukraine in the first two years of the war.

Air raid sirens, which warn Ukrainians to take shelter, have sounded in the capital more than 1,020 times since the start of the war, the Ukrainian military said.

The capital was under an air raid alert for nearly three hours on Thursday morning.

The Russian military used strategic bombers and also launched some missiles from its territory, Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said. The missiles targeted Kyiv from different directions, he added.

Kyiv city officials said that several kindergartens and schools, residential buildings and industrial sites were damaged by debris from downed Russian missiles across the city.

In the region, at least 40 private houses and two multi-storey buildings were damaged, regional officials said.

“Russia spent $390 million on today’s missile attack on Kyiv,” Agiya Zagrebelska, head of sanctions policy at the National Agency on Corruption Prevention, told Reuters.

“This is less than 1% of the amount of taxes paid by international companies to the Russian budget since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.”