Russian troops are launching several attacks in eastern Ukraine to try to advance beyond Avdyivka, a day after Kiev forces withdrew from that industrial city, the Ukrainian army said on Sunday (18).
(RFI) Facing a growing shortage of soldiers and weapons, and after months of hard fighting, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from Avdyivka on Friday night, a symbolic defeat just days before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
Ukrainian “large forces” have taken up new positions near Avdyivka and are “ready” for Russian attacks, which “unfortunately are already underway”, the sector’s military spokesman, Dmytro Lykhoviy, said on television on Sunday.
According to him, Russia is “actively trying to develop its offensive” in the Donetsk region.
On Sunday, the Ukrainian military “repelled” 14 attacks near Lastotchkyné, a small village less than two kilometers from the Avdiïvka districts in the north, and another 23 in the Mariïnka area further south, sector commander General Oleksandre Tarnavsky said on Telegram.
The Russian advance on Avdiivka, the largest since May 2023, has increased the pressure on the region’s dwindling civilian population.
Stay or leave?
In the village of Novooleksandrivka, about 30 kilometers west of Avdiïvka, where about 200 people remain, 22-year-old Vadym has decided not to leave for the time being, despite “constant” Russian shelling.
“I hope it stops. And if it doesn’t stop, we’ll try to leave,” he told AFP, referring to his wife and son, born a week ago.
Avdyivka’s fall came at a time when Ukraine has been desperately awaiting a vote on a crucial $60 billion aid package from the US for months. It is “the result of congressional inaction that led to Russia’s first significant (territorial) gains in months,” lamented US President Joe Biden.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, hailed an “important victory” on Saturday, with his army claiming “full control” of Avdyivka, which is largely in ruins.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had advanced 8.6 kilometers with the capture of the city, which has been the target of intense Russian attacks since October, despite heavy losses.
The fall of this town, which in recent days had only 900 inhabitants, compared to around 34,000 before the war, has an important symbolic value for both sides.
Avdiivka fell briefly into the hands of Moscow-led separatists in July 2014, before returning to Ukrainian control. It is just a dozen kilometers from Donetsk, the separatist “capital” that has been outside Kiev’s control for ten years. Ukrainian forces acknowledged that some soldiers were captured during the withdrawal, without providing details.
Attacks in the south
On Sunday, Telegram’s DeepState channel, which is close to the Ukrainian army, claimed that Russian forces had shot dead six Ukrainian soldiers, four of them wounded, in a position south of Avdiïka, probably on Thursday. The Ukrainian authorities have yet to comment on these allegations.
On the other hand, Kiev’s ground forces accused Russia of shooting dead two Ukrainian prisoners of war on Sunday, in the east but outside the Avdyivka sector.
In the south of the country, the Ukrainian army also reported Russian attacks in the Zaporijjia region on Sunday.
According to General Tarnavsky, Kiev forces repelled 13 Russian “attempted attacks” near the villages of Robotyné and Verbové, one of the few places where the Ukrainians regained ground during their 2023 counter-offensive, which largely failed.
Spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy later downplayed the seriousness of these attacks, assuring that Moscow did not have enough forces for a breakthrough.
“I’d like to calm the panic a little (…) It’s very likely that these were local attempts to hit Robotyné,” he said on television, assuring that “the enemy took a hit and retreated”.
(With AFP) *** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***