Battle of Ukraine: Ukrainian army withdraws from Avdiivka

Status: 07:51 am | Reading Time: 3 minutes

DThe Ukrainian army is pulling out of the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, which has been fighting for months against Russian invaders. “Considering the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and to protect the lives and health of the soldiers, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and go to the defense on the most favorable route,” wrote the new Ukrainian commander, Alexander Chirsky. Saturday morning on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. But the army did not want to give up the city. They will come back, he said.

Russian troops have been trying to capture Avdiivka since October 2023 with heavy losses. Since 2014, the former industrial city has been an outpost of Ukraine near Donetsk, the Russian-controlled capital of the Donbass coal and steel district. The capture of the city by Russian troops would not be of strategic importance, but could be used by the Kremlin for propaganda purposes ahead of the Russian presidential election in March, experts at the US Institute for War Studies wrote. Most recently, Ukraine had to give up the city of Pakmut in the spring of 2023 after months of fighting.

Chirsky also wrote that the soldiers performed their military duty with dignity and did everything to “destroy the best Russian military units”; They inflicted significant losses in personnel and equipment on the enemy. “We are taking steps to stabilize the situation and maintain our positions.” The lives of military personnel are of the highest value.

In recent days, the situation of Ukrainian defenders in the city has become more difficult. Ukrainian defenders fought back in “inhumane conditions,” the news service of the 110th regiment of the Ukrainian army stationed in Avdiivka wrote on Facebook on Friday. “Today the enemy is throwing massive forces at Avdivka in the form of personnel, armored vehicles and aircraft.” Russian troops have advanced from several sides, ISW experts analyzed in their daily report on Thursday. Photos show Russian troops advancing from the north on the huge Avdivka coking plant. In the south of the city, an important Ukrainian fortified defense system was captured.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is currently on a visit to Germany, said in Berlin on Friday that he was in constant contact with the military leadership about the situation in Avdiivka. Their main mission is to protect soldiers' lives and “minimize casualties”.

A few hours earlier, Tarnovsky had already announced the withdrawal of several positions in Avdiivka and the capture of several Ukrainian soldiers by the Russian army.

Russia had been trying to capture Avdiivka for months. The city, which had a population of about 33,000 before the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, is located in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. It is one of four regions that the Kremlin has announced will be annexed by 2022.