The battle of Avdiivka was a battle in the war in Donbas near Avdiivka, Donetsk region, Ukraine that was fought in late January and early February 2017. It saw some of the highest casualties during that phase of the conflict. According to the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine the battle was of a level of fighting in Ukraine that had not been seen since 2014–15. Background On 21 July 2014, during the war in Donbas, Ukrainian forces recaptured Avdiivka from pro-Russian separatists. Avdiivka is located only north of Donetsk. Between Donetsk and Avdiivka stretches Highway M04 which circles Donetsk around its north side and is part of the European route 50. In the area, Highway M04 has a highway interchange, named "Yasynuvatska rozvyazka". Also, located between Avdiivka and Donetsk is a mine, "Butivka-Donetska". Until March 2016, the "Industrial Zone" (located in the eastern part of Avdiivka) was a buffer zone between the Donetsk People's Republic-controlled territories and the Ukrainian army. In March 2016, the Ukrainian army set up its fortifications in the "Industrial Zone". This meant that the pro-Russian separatists no longer had full control of the highway that united their controlled cities of Donetsk and Horlivka and that it became more difficult for them to fire at Avdiivka with weapons not prohibited by the Minsk II agreement. Since March 2016 fighting for Avdiivka's "Industrial Zone" greatly intensified. In the days before the 29 January bombardments, the OSCE special monitoring mission in Ukraine documented a series of violations of the Minsk II agreement by separatists and Ukrainian troops who both placed weapon systems and troops in prohibited locations. Battle It is unclear who initiated the heavy fighting near the "Industrial Zone" area (located in the eastern part of Avdiivka) on 29 January 2017, with both sides accusing each other of starting the battle. According to The New York Times the military objective was a military position on the edge of Avdiivka called Almaz-2 (in English: Diamond-2), which had been under separatist control. When being interviewed by The Guardian a Ukrainian soldier claimed his army had provoked the separatists into an aggressive response by seizing a small stretch of road. Separatist bombardment started on 29 January 2017, and left more than 17,000 residents of the city without water, electricity or heat. With fierce regional winter conditions, this led the Ukrainian government to declare a state of emergency in preparation for