Avdiivka is closed due to the cholera epidemic, people in special suits are walking around the city, – mayor

The aggressor deliberately destroyed and then occupied a small industrial city in Donbass in February of this year.

A cholera epidemic has begun in Russian-occupied Avdiivka , the city has been closed for entry and exit. This was stated by the head of the Avdiivka city military administration Vitaly Barabash on the air of a telethon.

He recalled that Avdiivka was occupied by Russia in February 2024. According to him, the first few months the Russian occupiers tried to launch the public utility service, people cleared the access roads and were paid 5 thousand rubles for this.

“This has not happened for two weeks now, because, according to information from several sources, there is a cholera epidemic in the city. That is, the city is closed to entry from Donetsk. People are not allowed out of the city,” Barabash notes.

He added that representatives of the occupation authorities bring in food products in special suits and gas masks, throw out this humanitarian aid and quickly leave. According to him, there are a lot of homeless dogs in the city that attack people.

“They say that there is a strong stench in the city from the bodies of dead people. And no one is looking into anything. That is probably why this cholera epidemic occurred. An epidemiological catastrophe is happening there,” Barabash noted.

The head of the Avdeevka MVA recalled that due to Russian shelling of the city, there were ruins left there, there was not a single surviving building.

According to him, at the time when the Defense Forces withdrew from Avdiivka and the city was occupied, there were approximately 700 people left in it.

“And now, according to our data, although the information from there is coming in very locally, in small volumes, 400-450 people remain in the city. Many of those who were waiting for the arrival of the occupation forces are already disappointed,” Barabash said.

He said that during the first two weeks after the occupation, more than 100 men who abused alcohol disappeared from the city.

“After that, already near Ocheretino, several of them were taken prisoner. They were almost unarmed, untrained, like cannon fodder, but since the locals know the area, they were taken as if they were in a barrier detachment,” said the head of the Avdeevka MVA.

Occupation of Avdiivka

As UNIAN reported, the Russians captured Avdiivka in February. But instead of a small industrial center, they got complete ruins, which they turned the city into. The New York Times article noted that, according to estimates by Ukrainian officials and British intelligence, since January 1, the Russian army has dropped about 500 tons of air bombs on an area of only 30 square kilometers.

The pre-war population of Avdiivka was 30,000 people.

(C)UNIAN 2024