Russia says they now have control over Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine.
This is the biggest area they’ve taken since capturing another place called Bakhmut last May.
Ukrainian soldiers moved back, and now Russia is in charge there.
The Russian army attacked from Avdiivka towards other places to win more territory, according to a spokesperson from the Ukrainian army.
Ukrainian soldiers defended their position, stopping many of the attacks.
“We have a lot of soldiers there ready to fight,” said the spokesperson.
Ukrainian troops left Avdiivka to avoid getting surrounded, explained the head of the army.
He said it was to keep soldiers safe and to move them to better positions for defense.
Some Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly hiding in a big old factory, but Russia claims they now control that too.
There were casualties when Ukrainian soldiers moved out, but things are calmer now, said the Ukrainian military.
With Avdiivka under their control, Russia now surrounds Donetsk, another big city in Ukraine that Russia’s friends took over in 2014.
This comes close to the second anniversary of Russia’s big invasion of Ukraine.
Avdiivka has been a battleground for a while now.
The fighting destroyed much of the city, and most people had to leave.
US President Joe Biden was worried it would fall to Russia because Ukraine didn’t have enough weapons, partly because some politicians in the US didn’t want to give Ukraine more money for weapons.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, praised his soldiers for winning Avdiivka.
Russian TV showed Russian flags going up in the city instead of Ukrainian ones.
Last year, Ukraine couldn’t break through Russia’s defenses.
Russia wants to wear down Ukraine’s army while Ukraine thinks about getting more soldiers ready.
Ukraine’s president asked other countries to help stop Putin, calling him “the monster.”
In another area, Ukrainian soldiers stopped a Russian attack in Zaporizhzhia, said the Ukrainian military.
Avdiivka has been through a lot of fighting.
It’s important to Russia because they briefly took it in 2014 but then lost it to Ukraine.
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