Kiev

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka to avoid being encircled, new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky said Saturday, handing Russia its biggest symbolic victory following Kiev's failed summer counter-offensive.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday will seek to rouse allies from war fatigue and step up their financial and military backing at a critical juncture in his country's battle against Russia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky travels Friday to Berlin and Paris where he is due to sign security deals with the two European giants and seek further support for Kiev's battle against Russia.

Despite problems and preventions from the Western world, Türkiye will continue its efforts for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has vowed, stressing Ankara will use its diplomatic means to this end.

Ukraine said Friday there was fierce fighting in the beleaguered frontline city of Avdiivka and that it was preparing new positions around the industrial hub as Russia steps up attacks.

Ukraine has rushed soldiers to the embattled eastern town of Avdiivka, surrounded on three sides by Russian forces, where the military said the situation was "extremely critical".

Ukraine said Wednesday it had destroyed another Russian warship in the Black Sea, a key battleground of the nearly two-year war where Kiev's campaign has been building momentum.

While the frontline on land has remained static for over a year, Ukraine claims to have put Russia on the defensive in the Black Sea, an area vital for Ukrainian exports.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and President Joe Biden urged U.S. lawmakers Friday to approve a long-delayed military aid package for Ukraine, warning that Kiev could not hold off Russia's invasion without it.

"The failure of the United States Congress in not supporting Ukraine is close to criminal neglect," Biden said as he hosted Scholz in the Oval Office.

"It is outrageous."

Ukraine's top commander Valery Zaluzhny was on Thursday removed from his post, in the biggest shake-up of Kiev's military leadership since Russia's invasion began almost two years ago.

The popular general had led the Ukrainian army since the start of the war, pushing back a vastly more powerful invading force in the first months of the conflict.

Large numbers of Russian forces are pushing to capture the frontline Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, its Ukrainian mayor said yesterday, escalating a months-long effort to capture the industrial hub.

Moscow launched a costly bid in October to seize the town, which has been caught up in fighting since 2014, when it briefly fell to Moscow-backed separatists.

Turkish company Baykar has started building a drone factory near the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, says its CEO Haluk Bayraktar.

Baykar's TB2 or TB3 drone models will be produced at the plant, which will create jobs for 500 people, Bayraktar said, speaking at the World World Defense Show in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh.