President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday he visited eastern Ukraine’s embattled town of Avdiivka, which Russian forces are trying to encircle in some of the most ferocious fighting at the front.

“We discussed the defense situation and basic needs with the commander,” Zelenskiy said on Telegram messenger. The president’s office said he had given out medals to soldiers.

Russia intensified its attacks on Avdiivka in mid-October after months of counteroffensive operations by Ukraine were unable to make significant headway against dug-in Russian positions this summer.

The fighting around Avdiivka, much of it now damaged, is reminiscent of a battle for another eastern city, Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces in May after months of brutal urban combat.

Zelenskiy has made regular trips to areas near the front to visit soldiers throughout the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.

The town of Avdiivka had a pre-war population of around 32,000 and has been a frontline city since 2014, when it was briefly occupied by Moscow-backed militants who seized a swathe of eastern Ukraine.