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Destruction in Avdiivka

Photo: Dmitry Yagodkin / ITAR-TASS / IMAGO

For months, Ukrainian troops fought against Russian troops for control of the small town of Avdiivka. Early on Saturday morning, the Ukrainian army command initiated the withdrawal of its soldiers from the area in Donetsk in the east of the country.

According to Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, Ukrainian troops were detained by Russia. "In the final phase of the withdrawal operation, under the pressure of overwhelming enemy forces, a certain number of Ukrainian soldiers were captured," Tarnavskyi wrote on Telegram. He said Ukrainian troops had now advanced to the second line of defense near Avdiivka.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyj 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 Zelenskyj at the security conference in Munich about his military's decision to abandon the city. In order to protect the soldiers from being surrounded, they were taken back to new defensive lines.

The new Ukrainian commander-in-chief Olexander Syrsky announced the order to withdraw from Avdiivka. "In view of the operational situation around Avdiivka, I have decided to withdraw our units from the city and go into defense on more favorable lines in order to avoid encirclement and protect the life and health of the soldiers," he wrote on the Twitter successor X. But the army doesn't want to give up the city. They will return, he wrote.

The Russian military initially did not comment on the changed front situation near Avdiivka. Russian troops have been trying to capture Avdiivka since October 2023 with heavy losses. Since 2014, the former industrial city has been an outpost of Ukraine in the immediate vicinity of Donetsk, the Russian-controlled capital of the Donbass coal and steel district. In recent days, the situation for the Ukrainian defenders there has become increasingly difficult.

Ukraine claims to have shot down three Russian fighter jets

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Air Force says it has destroyed three Russian fighter jets. Two Sukhoi Su-34 fighter-bombers and one Su-35 were shot down on the eastern sector of the front, Air Force Chief Mykola Oleshchuk said on Telegram.

Russian sources did not initially confirm the shooting. However, Russian military observers had previously reported a deployment of Ukrainian anti-aircraft systems near Avdiivka.

joe/dpa/Reuters