Ukraine withdraws troops from Avdiivka

UKRAINE withdrew its troops from the besieged eastern stronghold of Avdiivka to save the lives of its soldiers, Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday.

Facing ammunition shortages and outnumbered on the battlefield, Ukrainian forces announced they had withdrawn in the early hours of Saturday, handing Russia its biggest victory since capturing Bakhmut in May.

“The ability to save our people is the most important task for us,” Ukraine’s president said. “In order to avoid being surrounded, it was decided to withdraw to other lines. This does not mean that people retreated some kilometres and Russia captured something, it did not capture anything.”

It comes after Russian forces stepped up efforts to capture the eastern industrial hub, which holds important symbolic value, in October. Mass casualties and destruction have been reported in the ensuing months, while Ukrainian servicemen were captured during the withdrawal, military officials said.

The operation was the first major decision made by Oleksandr Syrsky, the newly appointed commander-in-chief, after his predecessor Valery Zaluzhny was dismissed in early February.

Mr Syrsky said he “decided to withdraw our units from the city and switch to defence on more favourable lines” and that “the life of military personnel is the highest value”.

Ukraine faces mounting pressures in the east because of ammunition shortages, with a $60billion US military aid package held up in Washington.

Joe Biden yesterday told Mr Zelensky that he is “confident” Congress will renew war aid, but added that without US help Kyiv could lose further territory to Russian advances. “I spoke with Zelensky this afternoon to let him know that I was confident we’re going to get that money,” the US president told reporters after attending church in Delaware.

Failure by US legislators to approve new funding for military aid to Kyiv would be “absurd” and “unethical,” he said, adding: “I’m going to fight to get them the ammunition they need.”

A Ukrainian serviceman deployed on the eastern front line 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”.

“But if we keep losing ground, we will lose this war,” he added.

The battle for Avdiivka has been one of the bloodiest of the nearly two-year war.