Russia’s armed forces are turning the Ukrainian city of Avdiyivka into a “post-apocalyptic movie set”, intensifying shelling and forcing the authorities to stop almost all services, the head of its military command said on Sunday.

About 2,000 civilians remain in Avdiivka, according to Ukrainian officials. The city of Donetsk Oblast is about 90 kilometers southwest of besieged Bakhmut.

Before the war broke out, the city had a population of over 30,000.

“It saddens me to say this, but Avdiivka is becoming more and more like a movie set after the apocalypse,” the head of its military administration, Vitaly Barabas, said via the Telegram platform.

The removal of public service workers remaining in the city has begun and soon the services offered by mobile crews will stop “because there are informers of the Russian occupation forces in the city”, according to Mr Barabas.

As Russian troops make a slow, gradual advance to flank Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military warned last week that the city could become a “second Bahamut”, where hostilities that have raged since the summer have reduced much of it to rubble.

Yesterday, Sunday, Russian artillery hit two apartment buildings in Avdiivka, just 10 kilometers from the northern suburbs of the city of Donetsk, which Kiev and its allies see as controlled by Moscow since 2014.

One person was wounded in airstrikes in Avdiivka on Saturday, according to the Ukrainian military.

“You have to leave, you have to pack up, especially those of you with children,” added Mr. Barabas.

Moscow denies targeting civilians in its 13-month-old war with no end in sight. Thousands of people have been killed, millions more have been displaced, dozens of Ukrainian cities have been almost or partially wiped off the map.