Russian troops are shelling Ukrainian towns chaotically. The towns that suffer most are frontline towns, or those that are not so far from the front line. Avdeevka in the Donetsk region is one of them. Russian forces have repeatedly launched missile and/or artillery strikes against the town's civilian infrastructure. 

On 17 March 2023, for example, a missile strike was carried out against a multi-storey building. There were no civilian casualties, but the damage was enormous. The nearby church was damaged, windows were broken and there was shrapnel damage to the interior of the building.