The situation is becoming critical for Ukraine in Avdiïvka.
Kiev announced on Friday that its army had withdrawn "with minor losses" from a position it held south of this eastern city, where things have deteriorated considerably in recent days amid increasing attacks. Russian assaults.
Ukraine risks having to abandon this locality, which is now largely destroyed, faced with a growing lack of resources due in particular to the blocking of American military aid, while Russia, which has more men and ammunition, can hope for a conquest, a few days before the second anniversary of the start of the invasion on February 24.
In this case, it would be Russia's greatest symbolic victory after the failure of kyiv's counter-offensive last summer.
Also read “A tough battle with attrition on both sides”: why Ukraine and Russia are bogged down in Avdiivka
“The decision to withdraw was taken to save personnel and improve the operational situation,” Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the Ukrainian general who commands this area, wrote on Telegram.
The withdrawal from this fortified position took place "with minor losses", he added while ensuring that the army continued to "hold the city" and that the sending of reinforcements and additional ammunition to the troops Ukrainians on site continued.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, on a European tour, declared from Berlin that he was in permanent contact with the military command, whose main task, according to him, was to preserve the lives of soldiers and “minimize losses”.
“Extraordinary” pressure
According to Kiev, the Russian army has been increasing its assault waves since October to take this industrial city, despite very significant human losses, a situation reminiscent of the battle of Bakhmout, a city that Moscow conquered in May 2023 after ten months of fighting in cost of tens of thousands of deaths and injuries.
“The pressure from the Russians is simply extraordinary,” declared Friday evening on television the spokesperson for the 3rd assault brigade Oleksandr Borodin, a Ukrainian unit sent in recent days as reinforcements to defend the city, and which had already fought at Bakhmut.
Also read “For Ukraine, the only possible strategy is to stand back”: 2024, the year of all dangers for kyiv?
After the failure of the Ukrainian summer counter-offensive, it was the Russians who went on the attack, facing a Ukrainian army which was struggling to replenish its ranks and lacking ammunition.
Symbolic value
The White House, for its part, noted that “Avdiïvka risks falling under Russian control”, and this while the military aid promised by the United States has been blocked for months by the Republican rivals of President Joe Biden, at the risk of playing into the hands of Vladimir Putin.
Video.
“I will not turn my back on Ukraine,” Joe Biden promises Zelensky
This city has an important symbolic value.
It briefly fell in July 2014 into the hands of separatists led by Moscow, before returning to Ukrainian control and remaining so despite the invasion of February 24, 2022 and its proximity to Donetsk, a stronghold of Russia's supporters for ten years.
It is now largely destroyed, but some 900 civilians remain there according to local authorities.
Moscow hopes its capture will make Ukrainian bombing of Donetsk more difficult.