Russian troops are trying to advance further into eastern Ukraine by launching multiple attacks west of Avdiivka, the day after the withdrawal of Kiev forces from this key industrial city, the commander said on Sunday (February 18). Ukrainian in this sector.
“In the Avdiïvka area, Ukrainian soldiers repelled 14 attacks by occupiers near Lastochkyné”, a village located less than two kilometers from the northern districts of Avdiïvka, in the Donetsk region, General Oleksandr indicated on Telegram Tarnavsky.
Further south, in the Mariinka area, Russian forces "attempted 23 times to break through the defense of our troops", he added, also reporting Russian offensives in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia.
According to General Tarnavsky, the Kiev forces thus repelled 13 Russian "assault attempts" near the villages of Robotyné and Verbové (Zaporizhia region), one of the rare places where the Ukrainians had regained ground during their counter-offensive. of 2023 which largely failed.
“The enemy suffered considerable losses in men and armored vehicles,” assured the commander.
An “important victory” for Moscow
Moscow congratulated itself on Saturday on an “important victory”, claiming “total control” of Avdiïvka, a few days before the second anniversary of the start of its invasion.
On Sunday, the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have advanced 8.6 kilometers with the capture of this city, largely in ruins, targeted since October by very intense Russian attacks despite heavy losses.
Faced with a growing lack of soldiers and weapons, the Ukrainian army announced its withdrawal from Avdiivka during the night from Friday to Saturday. It was a “fair decision” intended to “save as many lives as possible,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
The fall of this town, which had only some 900 inhabitants in recent days compared to around 34,000 before the war, has an important symbolic value for both camps.
Avdiïvka briefly fell in July 2014 into the hands of separatists led by Moscow before returning to Ukrainian control. It is only a dozen kilometers from Donetsk, the separatist "capital" which has escaped kyiv's control for ten years.
With AFP
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