Vladimir Putin’s forces have launched the “largest-scale offensive action” in eastern Ukraine’s Avdiivka town since the start of Russia’s invasion. The major push on the battlefield comes after Avdiivka witnessed two days of intense fighting as Russian tanks and equipment were seen moving towards Ukrainian lines. Major attacks, including hundreds of rocket and artillery strikes on the town, have been underway since Tuesday. “This is the largest-scale offensive action in our sector since the full-fledged war began,” said Vitaliy Barabash, the head of Avdiivka administration. Russia is pouring in a large number of troops and equipment in the region as they look to wrest the town from Kyiv, Ukrainian military officials said. The flare-up comes as drone attacks killed three people, including a child, in Russia’s Belgorod region and injured another two, regional officials said. The Russian defence ministry blamed Ukraine for carrying out the attack. Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said debris from a drone downed by Russia’s anti-aircraft units damaged several houses and cars in the region. Mr Barabash said while the situation in Avdiivka on Wednesday was not quite as heated as the day before, battles have continued. Nearly two dozen attacks were made on the town’s old district and others in the city centre. A group of up to three Russian battalions with tanks and armoured vehicles support intensified operations near Avdiivka, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said. It said 10 enemy attacks on the town had been repelled. Russian accounts of the situation in Avdiivka also suggested fighting had intensified, but claimed its forces had “improved their position in the immediate outskirts around Avdiivka”. Avdiivka was retaken by Ukraine last month in a successful counteroffensive push in the east, but is facing the same fate as Bakhmut as it remains under siege for months now. Most of the town has been reduced to rubble. Russia’s gains around Avdiivka have been limited to the southwest of the town and its troops have not managed to complete an operational encirclement of the settlement, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said. Mr Putin’s forces will likely struggle to encircle the town if that is their intent, said the US-based think-tank monitoring the war. It said Avdiivka is “notoriously well-fortified and defended Ukrainian stronghold, which will likely complicate Russian forces’ ability to closely approach or fully capture the settlement”. Any hypothetical capture of the town will not offer Russia new routes to the rest of the Donetsk oblast as Russian forces already control critical segments of the nearby highway and routes, it said. The territorial control of the region, however, could be a bonus for Ukraine. “Russian forces likely intend attacks in the Avdiivka area to fix Ukrainian forces and prevent them from redeploying to other areas of the front. However, Ukrainian officials have already identified the Avdiivka push as a Russian fixing operation, and they are unlikely to unduly commit Ukrainian manpower to this axis,” the ISW said in its latest assessment. Ukrainian gains elsewhere along the frontline and on the battlefield continued on Wednesday as the General Staff said its forces were successful in the east of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near Bakhmut. The tactical positions held by Ukrainian forces were improved in the west of Robotyne, another critical battlefield zone in Zaporizhzhia oblast, the Ukrainian general staff and Tavriisk group commander Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said. In southern Ukraine, Russian forces were pushing their attacks “sometimes using infantry and in some areas deploying quite a lot of vehicles into battle”, said Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern group of forces. Now in its fifth month, Ukraine’s counteroffensive has two major battle zones as Kyiv’s troops look to secure areas around Bakhmut. They aim to retake the town and recapture villages in the south in a drive towards the Sea of Azov to sever a Russian land bridge between positions Moscow holds in the south and east. Read More Ukraine-Russia war – live: Missile strike kills four in Ukrainian school, say Kyiv officials Could Putin be arrested? President to leave Russia for first time since international arrest warrant issued Russia loses vote to rejoin UN’s top human rights body despite Putin’s charm offensive with stolen grain Russia claims it could play unlikely role of peacemaker in Israel and is ‘speaking to both sides’

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Tiffany Gomas, the American Airlines passenger who went viral for her "not real" rant, has spoken out for the first time. For the blissfully unaware, a distressed Gomas was filmed leaving her seat and heading towards the front of the plane. She pointed at a passenger and shouted: "That mother f***er back there is not real." Since the 2 July incident, there have been conspiracies, TikTok trends and even merch dedicated to Gomas' phrase. But, the reason behind her meltdown remains up in the air. After weeks of online speculation and attempts to uncover the indentity of the passenger, she was eventually identified as a 38-year-old marketing executive from Texas, who owns the firm Uppercut Marketing. Gomas has since broken her silence, calling her life "frightening" since the footage "blown up". Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter "Things go viral and everything changes," she told the Daily Mail. "No one knows anyone else’s story, and no one should judge. No one knows what it’s like." She went on to say that people have been "staking out" her $1.6 million (£1.2 million) home, and looking through her mailbox. "So much of what's out there is inaccurate," she added, telling the publication she is consulting a lawyer. The police report states: "The female then started claiming the aircraft was not safe and did not want the aircraft to leave due to her believing it would not make it to its destination," "Due to the statements the flight attendants felt the aircraft needed to be rescreened. [The airline manager] explained that the passenger was denied boarding and they wanted her escorted to the public side." Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Chelsea have agreed a season-long loan deal with Roma for Romelu Lukaku, the PA news agency understands. The Serie A side will pay £8million to take the wantaway striker for a year as a solution to the stand-off between player and club appears finally to be in sight. PA understands that there is no obligation for the club to make the deal permanent. The uncertainty surrounding Lukaku, who joined Chelsea for £97.5m in 2021 but scored only eight Premier League goals in 26 games before being loaned out to Inter Milan last season, has hung over the early weeks of Mauricio Pochettino’s time in charge. The manager hinted last week that he would be willing to consider reintegrating the Belgium international into his squad if no deal for him to leave could be reached before Friday’s transfer deadline. But that impasse was averted on Monday night after a deal was struck for the 30-year-old, who spent three years on Chelsea’s books between 2011-14 but made just 10 appearances between loan spells at West Brom and Everton, to join up with ex-Blues boss Jose Mourinho in the Italian capital. Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live