Russia said Saturday it had taken “full control” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka, hours after Kyiv said it had pulled out of the former stronghold to save soldiers’ lives. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had informed President Vladimir Putin of the advance, said a defense ministry statement. Facing ammunition shortages and outnumbered on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces announced they had withdrawn in the early hours of Saturday. It followed months of pressure after Russian forces stepped up efforts to capture the eastern industrial hub in October, devastating the city and causing mass casualties. The capture of Avdiivka represents Russia’s biggest victory in the war since May.
Earlier Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told a security conference in Munich: “The ability to save our people is the most important task for us. In order to avoid being surrounded, it was decided to withdraw to other lines.” “This does not mean that people retreated some kilometers and Russia captured something,” he added. “It did not capture anything.”
Earlier, Ukraine’s newly appointed commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrsky said he had “decided to withdraw our units from the city and switch to defense on more favorable lines.” A number of Ukrainian servicemen were captured in the operation, several military officials said. It was Syrsky’s first major decision since his appointment, at a time when Ukraine faces mounting pressures in the east because of ammunition shortages, with a $60-billion US military aid package held up in Washington.
On the eastern frontline, one Ukrainian serviceman told AFP that withdrawing was “the right decision given the lack of weapons and artillery shells, because if we don’t save the lives of the soldiers, we will soon have no one left to fight.” Avdiivka lies in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, which the Kremlin has claimed to be part of Russia since a 2022 annexation that remains unrecognized by nearly all United Nations members. In July 2014, it briefly fell into the hands of pro-Russian separatists before returning to Ukrainian control. But the Ukrainian army faced renewed Russian assaults including in the eastern Donetsk region. “I’m used to the sound of shelling,” said Vikto.
