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War-time president Volodymyr Zelensky has revealed the areas where Ukraine’s forces are facing a “challenging” time repelling Russian troops as air bombardments intensified over a strategic city in the east. Ukrainian forces repelled a total of eight attacks on the battered, strategic city of Avdiivka by Vladimir Putin’s troops in the past 24 hours, said Ukraine’s military spokesperson Oleksandr Shtupun. It was earlier reported that Mr Putin was going to make a third attempt at capturing the city known for its large coking plant after failing twice before. “Fighting is still going on. Over the last two days, the occupiers have increased the number of air strikes using guided bombs from Su-35 aircraft,” said Mr Shtupun. “The enemy is also bringing in more and more infantry. But when they tried to deploy armoured vehicles the day before yesterday two tanks and 14 other vehicles were burned out,” he said. Vitaliy Barabash, head of Avdiivka’s military administration, also revealed Russia’s losses in its current drive for Avdiivka. A minimum 3,000-4,000 Russian troops were killed and a further 7,000-8,000 were wounded, he told state news agency Ukrinform. Russia has not commented on the claims of the casualties made by Kyiv. “Quite simply, Avdiivka and its strategic position is geographically located on heights and you can see Donetsk... from here,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian area occupied by Russia. He said Mr Putin’s troops “need” Avdiivka. “Not a single building” was intact in the city that now has just over 1,500 people remaining from its pre-war population of 32,000, Mr Barabash said. Some of the remaining civilians in Avdiivka include doctors and nurses. The town still has a shop and functioning hospital operating under every day shelling. In an evening update on the frontline on Monday, the Ukrainian General Staff of the Armed Forces said its troops repelled 15 Russian attacks near the long-contested town of Maryinka, east of Avdiivka. Kyiv said its troops also repelled another 11 strikes near Bakhmut to the northeast and six near Kupiansk in the northeast. Mr Zelensky, in a speech on Monday, said fighting along the frontline has been “challenging”. He named Avdiivka, Maryinka, Bakhmut front, Lyman front, Kupyansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as the areas where fighting has been the fiercest. He said he was grateful “for the fact that Ukraine knows and will know the enemy’s plans and how to respond to them – properly and powerfully”. “Both on the ground and in the Black Sea,” he said, referring to the area where Russia has concentrated its naval fleet. This was further corroborated by Ukrainian commander-in-chief, General Valery Zaluzhnyi, who said Avdiivka, Kupiansk, and Maryinka fronts remain the “most intense”. “The situation is complicated, but remains under control,” he said. The top commander spoke with his American counterpart, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Charles Brown, on Monday. He discussed Ukraine’s plans for the winter and urgent needs of the Ukrainian troops, such as ammunition, air defence and drones. In an interview earlier this month, Mr Zaluzhnyi said the war was entering a phase of attrition, leading to Mr Zelensky dismissing any notion that the conflict was headed towards a stalemate. Russian accounts said Moscow’s forces had repulsed five Ukrainian attempts to advance on villages outside Bakhmut that was captured by Moscow’s troops in May after months of fighting. Read More South Korea and members of the US-led UN command warn North Korea over its nuclear threat Russia-Ukraine war: Mystery as Putin’s state media removes update on forces - live South Korea's Yoon will warn APEC leaders about the risks of a Russia-North Korea arms deal Russian UN envoys shoot back at Western criticism of its Ukraine war and crackdown on dissidents From Gaza to Ukraine, China to the EU: The major issues facing Cameron in new role What has David Cameron been doing since resigning from government?

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First came the crack in Alexander Volkanovski‘s defence. Then, the crack in his voice. If the first crack was consequential, allowing Islam Makhachev to skim his shin off the Australian’s head, the latter was a consequence in itself – a consequence of one of the best fighters alive staying silent on his struggles with mental health. That is, until now. Volkanovski would have emerged from UFC 294 with credit anyway; he stepped in on 11 days’ notice and moved up in weight to challenge a man who had beaten him eight months prior. Even in this surprising, first-round defeat by Makhachev, Volkanovski lost very little. His featherweight title still rests firmly on his shoulder, and he will soon return to that weight class where he has been unbeatable. But soon may be too soon. In his post-fight press conference, Volkanovski began the dissection of this defeat – his second this year, but just his third as a professional mixed martial artist, with his first having occurred a long decade ago. The 35-year-old started to dissect the technical reasons for this knockout loss, but it soon became apparent what was of greater importance: the psychological reasons for his presence in Abu Dhabi. “He’s not somebody you should be taking a short-notice [fight] with, but I needed it,” Volkanovski began. “Obviously a lot of people will say it’s for the money and all that, but it was much more than that. It is hard, it is really hard for athletes... Sorry, um... I never thought I would struggle with it,” he continued, ignoring the blood over his eye, instead wiping a tear from beneath it. “But for some reason when I wasn’t fighting or in camp... F***, sorry,” he said, attempting a laugh, looking away and to the ceiling, then gently rapping his hand on the table to bring himself back into the room. “I was just doing my head in,” he continued, tears floating at the bottom of his eyes. “I needed a fight, and this opportunity came up. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t training as much as I should have, but I thought I had to do it. I had to take it. I’m telling myself, ‘It’s meant to be.’ I was struggling a little bit not fighting, doing my head in. I don’t know how; everything’s fine, I’ve got a beautiful family. But, I don’t know... I think you just need to keep busy. I need to be in camp, otherwise, I’m going to do my head in. “It’s weird, [it’s not that I] never ‘believed in that stuff’, but I never got it. It was something that – I don’t know – maybe the more and more I learn about myself, the more I understand. I talked about us having a smile on my face, me and my wife. My wife could see it does get hard, I don’t know why.” Volkanovski pointed to the birth of his third child, in August, and surgery on an injury this summer as reasons why he had not been training. Clearly, the knock-on effect of those moments – as joyous as the former seemed to be – has led Volkanovski’s mental health to suffer. Last week, all the talk was of how brave the Australian was to face Makhachev on short notice; braver was this admission that he is struggling, which simultaneously offers a different lens through which to view his choice to fight. Keeping himself engaged and busy is healthy, but that is complicated by the inherent risk in his profession. “Maybe it was just a silly decision under the circumstances,” he admitted. Perhaps it was, though it was also understandable. Volkanovski’s next challenge, however, will come outside of the ring. It must. He naturally sees the antidote to his current struggles as a quick turnaround to fight again, likely against the dangerous Ilia Topuria in January. Yet, that fight could go the same way as Saturday’s against Makhachev, if the Australian does not first tackle these thoughts and feelings, and find the right balance for him. We knew Alexander Volkanovski was brave. That is even clearer now than it was last week. Now, however, he must be sensible, and get to work outside the ring before he can return to work in it. Read More Islam Makhachev stuns Alexander Volkanovski with head-kick KO in first round at UFC 294 Conor McGregor reacts to ‘illegal’ strikes in Islam Makhachev win at UFC 294 Khabib explains why he wasn’t in Islam Makhachev’s corner at UFC 294

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