 After Bakhmut, the defence of Avdivka becomes of great importance. UK intelligence has pointed out a tactical similarity between the situation occurring near Avdivka and the one near Bakhmut. Intelligence analysts have pointed out that tactically the situation near Avdivka is similar to that in the larger town of Bakhmut, further north. Ukrainian forces continue organised defence, but their supply lines to the west are increasingly threatened by the Russian Envelopment operation. Over the past three weeks, Russian forces have made creeping gains around the Ukrainian-held Donbass town of Avdivka. US intelligence says the Russian operation has largely been carried out by the First Army Corps of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, local personnel who will know the terrain well. Avdivka is now largely destroyed. The sprawling of Avdivka-Coke-Plant complex is likely to be seen as particularly defendable key terrain as the battle progresses. UK intelligence adds. Before this, UK intelligence explained that a decision by the Russian occupation authorities to declare Melitopol, the capital of the Russian-occupied part of Zaporizia Oblast, means they cannot implement their plans for advancing further. Zaporizia is one of the four oblasts President Putin claimed to have annexed as part of the Russian Federation on 30 September 2022. Russia has never occupied Zaporizia City, a major international centre of 700,000 people, which is approximately 35 kilometres from the current front line. The quiet declaration of an alternative capital is likely tactic acknowledgement within the Russian system that its forces are highly unlikely to seize previously planned major objectives in the near future.