The Ukrainian army withdrew from Avdiivka to “protect the lives of soldiers”.

The Ukrainian army has withdrawn from the city of Avdiivka in the east of the country, where the situation has worsened significantly in recent days, announced Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnovsky, who commands the area overnight Friday into Saturday.

“In accordance with the order received, (we) moved away from Avdivka to positions prepared in advance,” he wrote in a telegram. It was Russia's biggest symbolic victory since last summer's failed counteroffensive in Kiev.

“Ten times as many shells in a situation where the enemy is advancing over the dead bodies of his own soldiers (…) This is the only correct decision,” General Tarnowski continued. Ukrainian forces thus avoided encirclement, near a largely destroyed industrial city, he assured.

“Let's Save Soldiers' Lives”

This was the first major decision taken by Oleksandr Chirsky, the new commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, after being appointed to the post on February 8. He justified it by a desire to “protect” the lives of his soldiers.

Oleksandr Chirsky wrote on Facebook shortly before General Tarnovsky's announcement, “I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense in the most favorable ways.” “Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units and inflicted significant losses on the enemy,” General Sirsky continued.

Shortage of ammunition

Avtivka has an important symbolic value, having a population of about 34,000 before the Russian invasion that began in February 2022.

The city briefly fell to Moscow-led pro-Russian separatists in July 2014, before returning to Ukrainian control, despite the invasion and ten years of its proximity to the separatist capital of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk.

According to Kiev, the Russian military has been mounting offensive waves to take Avdiyka since October, despite extremely high casualties, reminiscent of the Battle of Baghmoud, which Moscow won in May 2023 after 10 months of fighting. Tens of thousands of deaths and injuries.

After the Ukrainian summer counteroffensive failed, the Russians went on the offensive, facing a Ukrainian army that was struggling to replenish its ranks and running out of ammunition.