According to Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, the decision will save the lives of soldiers and avoid a situation in which Russian troops encircle Ukrainian troops.
Kai Jääskeläinen,
STT
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the city of Avdijivka, says the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces Oleksandr Syrskyi.
He told about it in a Facebook post early on Saturday.
By withdrawing, the aim is to avoid a situation where the Russian forces would succeed in encircling the Ukrainian forces, says Syrskyi. He justified his decision by protecting the soldiers’ lives and health.
According to him, the troops will withdraw to better positions in terms of defense. At the same time, the situation on the front will be stabilized and the troops will be able to maintain their positions, Syrskyi writes.
– The spirit of the Armed Forces personnel is the most valuable, Syrskyi said.
He adds that the Ukrainian troops did everything they could to destroy Russia’s best units and cause significant losses of equipment and men.
Suffering from a shortage of ammunition and left on the battlefield, Ukraine thought on Friday that it might have to withdraw from the entire city. There have been heavy battles in the city, especially during the last few weeks.
In addition, the general leading the forces of the eastern front of Ukraine Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said on Friday that several Ukrainian soldiers have been captured by Russia after the troops withdrew from Avdijivka.
The capture of Avdijivka would be a symbolic victory for Russia
Russia has been trying to gain control of the city of Avdijivka in eastern Ukraine for several months. The city is not strategically important, but capturing it would be a symbolic victory for Russia.
Before the war, Avdijivka had more than 30,000 inhabitants. According to the city authorities, there were about a thousand residents left in the almost completely destroyed city at the beginning of the month.
The industrial city of Avdijivka is located in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. There have been huge battles in the region since then, when Russia invaded Ukraine on a large scale on February 24, 2022.
According to the Reuters news agency, the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces could lead to the biggest change in the war front since May 2023, when Russian forces captured the city of Bahmut.
Sources: Reuters, AFP, AP