Ukraine withdraw from Avdiivka in large victory for Russia

Ukraine have withdrawn troops from the eastern town of Avdiivka to avoid encirclement, army chiefs have said.

The Russian takeover of the town would give them full control of the area surrounding Donetsk, in the biggest change on the frontlines since Russian forces captured Bakhmut in May last year.

In a post on Facebook in the early hours of Saturday morning, army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said he had acted to “preserve the lives and health of servicemen”, stabilise the situation and move troops to more favourable defence lines.

"Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more favorable lines.

"Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best russian military units, inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment.

We are taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain our positions.

"The life of military personnel is the highest value. We will still return Avdiivka. Glory to Ukraine."

On Friday, a Ukrainian commander had said that some of Kyiv's forces have withdrawn from positions near the town. He said: "Our troops are using all available forces and means to restrain the enemy,”

Taking over the remains of Avdiivka, much of which has been decimated by fighting, would give Russia full control of the area surrounding Donetsk, a large Ukrainian city that was seized by Russian proxy forces in 2014. It would also be a symbolic gain for Vladimir Putin as he prepares to stand in a rubber-stamp election next month that will grant him another six years in office.

Avdiivka’s mayor, said 923 civilians remained in the city, down from a prewar population of about 32,000. Most of them are elderly people who have refused to leave their homes, even as fighting has intensified in recent months, and there is no possibility to evacuate them.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesperson, said in a briefing on Thursday that Avdiivka was at risk of falling under Russian control. “In very large part, this is happening because the Ukrainian forces on the ground are running out of artillery ammunition,” he said.

On the frontline in Donetsk region, west of Avdiivka, soldiers from a self-propelled artillery unit that forms part of Ukraine’s First Tank Brigade said during a visit on Thursday that their ability to strike the Russians had been cut dramatically since November.

“Back then, we could fire every half hour, to stop them from relaxing and disrupt their movements, now we have to be very selective, and only fire for defence,” said their commander, who gave his call-sign, Titushko, in accordance with Ukrainian army regulations.