As of: February 18, 2024, 7:38 a.m
By: Patrick Mayer
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The Ukrainian army abandons Avdiivka in Donbass.
The retreat from the former bastion is probably chaotic.
Russian troops take prisoners.
Avdiivka – It is a huge setback for Ukraine in its defense against Russian invasion.
Avdiivka, the bulwark in Donbass, fell on Saturday (February 17).
Ukraine War: Russians capture Ukrainian troops in Avdiivka
While President Volodymyr Zelensky is at the Munich Security Conference (Siko), Kiev has to ask itself why the exhausted soldiers of the 110th Mechanized Brigade, who have been defending the city for months, were not brought out sooner.
Because: The last few days have been like a real rush.
According to Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnawsky, Ukrainian troops were pinned down by Russian forces during the chaotic withdrawal.
“At the final stage of the withdrawal operation, under the pressure of overwhelming enemy forces, a certain number of Ukrainian soldiers were captured,” Tarnawsky wrote on Telegram.
Ukrainian soldiers recover after retreating from Avdiivka on February 17.
© IMAGO / ZUMA Wire
After withdrawal from Avdiivka: Ukrainian troops move into second line of defense
He did not mention how many soldiers there were who did not make it out of the completely destroyed city.
According to Tarnawsky, the retreating troops had now taken up positions on the second line of defense near Avdiivka.
How well these positions are developed is also not known.
As a team of reporters from
Welt reported
live
from Ukraine, there were even orders to leave the wounded behind.
Videos circulating on X (formerly Twitter) are said to show entire Ukrainian units retreating on armored vehicles or on foot.
A video (see tweet below) undoubtedly comes from Avdiivka because the well-known city sign can be seen on it.
The crew of a Ukrainian armored personnel carrier is under artillery fire as they escape, and grenades fall next to the tank.
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Avdiivka fell: Kiev had sent the 3rd assault brigade
In recent days, Kiev had sent the 3rd Assault Brigade, legendary in its homeland, consisting of the notorious “Azov” fighters, to secure the withdrawal of the 110th Brigade.
According to videos on social networks and other reports, those “Azov” soldiers and fighters from the 225th Assault Brigade struck an evacuation corridor around the last remaining main road in the west of the city in order to use it to get trapped units out.
The 3rd Assault Brigade also shared a video on social media on Saturday that appears to show a hospital behind the front line near Avdiivka.
Seriously wounded Ukrainian soldiers can be seen on it.
Instead, Russian military bloggers distributed a drone video that clearly documents how Russian soldiers hoist their country's flag on the former coking plant in the industrial city.
According to Western estimates, Moscow has accepted the loss of tens of thousands of soldiers through death or injury since mid-October in order to take the symbolic small town with a former population of 32,000.
On many sectors of the front: Ukrainian army is under pressure against Russians
The Ukrainian army had held Avdiivka since the uprising by pro-Russian separatists in Donbass in late summer 2014.
Now the bastion had to be abandoned.
Neither Zelensky nor the General Staff have yet answered why relief in the Ukraine war was not carried out earlier.
Zelensky described the withdrawal as a “logical, fair and professional solution” to protect the lives of soldiers.
“That was the main task for us, we protect our people, our soldiers,” said the Ukrainian president at the Siko in Munich at the weekend.
For weeks, the Ukrainian armed forces have been under heavy pressure on many sectors of the front in the south near Robotyne, in the east near Avdiivka and Bakhmut, and in the northeast near Kreminna and Kupyansk.
In many places, the units are considered exhausted due to problems with rotation, and they are also suffering from a significant shortage of ammunition.
According to
the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ)
, Ukrainian artillerymen report that on some days they only have smoke grenades at their disposal.
(pm)