After claiming “full control” of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, on Saturday, the Russians were trying to gain more ground in this area on Sunday by carrying out multiple attacks, said the Ukrainian commander deployed in the sector.
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Russian troops are trying to advance into eastern Ukraine by launching multiple attacks west of Avdiivka, the day after the withdrawal of Kiev forces from this important industrial city, the Ukrainian commander in the sector said on Sunday, February 18.
Faced with a growing lack of soldiers and weapons and after months of intense fighting, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from Avdiivka on the night of Friday to Saturday, an important symbolic defeat a few days before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
“Important Ukrainian forces” have established themselves in new positions near Avdiivka and are “ready” for Russian attacks, which “unfortunately are already underway,” military spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy said on television on Sunday.
According to him, Russia is “trying to actively develop its offensive” in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian soldiers on Sunday “repulsed” 14 attacks near Lastochkyné, a small town located less than two kilometers from the northern districts of Avdiivka, and another 23 in the Mariinka area, further south, General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said on Telegram , sector commander.
The Russian advance on Avdiivka, the most significant since May 2023, has increased pressure on the region's dwindling civilians.
An “important victory” for Moscow
Avdiivka's fall came at a time when Ukraine has been desperately waiting for months for a vote on the crucial $60 billion US aid. It is “the result of congressional inaction, which led to Russia's first notable (territorial) gains in months,” lamented US President Joe Biden.
Moscow, for its part, congratulated itself on Saturday for an “important victory,” claiming “total control” of Avdiivka, a few days before the second anniversary of the start of its invasion.
On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have advanced 8.6 kilometers with the capture of this largely ruined city, the target of very intense Russian attacks since October despite heavy losses.
The fall of this city, which in recent days only had about 900 inhabitants, compared to the 34,000 it had before the war, has an important symbolic value for both sides.
Avdiivka briefly fell in July 2014 to Moscow-led separatists before returning to Ukrainian control. It is only a dozen kilometers from Donetsk, the separatist “capital” that has escaped kyiv's control for ten years.
Ukrainian forces acknowledged that their soldiers were captured during the withdrawal, without giving details.
Assaults in the south
On Sunday, the DeepState Telegram channel, close to the Ukrainian military, claimed that Russian forces had shot dead six Ukrainian soldiers, including four wounded, in a position south of Avdiivka, probably on Thursday. The Ukrainian authorities have so far not commented on these claims.
kyiv's ground forces, for their part, accused Russia of having shot dead two Ukrainian prisoners of war on Sunday in the east, but outside the Avdiivka sector.
In the south of the country, the Ukrainian Army also reported Russian attacks in the Zaporizhia region on Sunday. Kiev forces thus repelled, according to General Tarnavsky, 13 Russian “assault attempts” near the villages of Robotín and Verbové, one of the rare places where the Ukrainians regained ground during their 2023 counteroffensive, which largely failed.
Spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy later downplayed the seriousness of these attacks, assuring that Moscow did not have enough forces for an advance.
“I would like to calm the panic a little (…) These are probably local attempts to attack Robotín,” he said on television, assuring that “the enemy was kicked in the teeth and fell backwards.”
*Adapted from its original in French
With AFP
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