Fierce fighting persists in Ukraine’s east as Kyiv reports nonstop assaults by Russia on a key city

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian officials have reported intense combat that is characterized by relentless assaults by Russian forces on the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka. City head Vitalii Barabash said on Ukrainian television on Saturday that “the enemy has not stopped either assaulting or shelling positions” around Avdiivka. Barabash’s comments come after Russia’s U.N. ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told a U.N. Security Council meeting on Friday that Russia’s intensified attacks in the east amounted to a new stage in the country’s campaign in Ukraine. A 60-year-old woman was killed in Russian shelling of the city of Beryslav in Ukraine’s partly-occupied Kherson region on Saturday.