Avdiivka Falls: Ukrainian Military Retreats Entirely from The Key Location As Russia Makes Significant Gain

Ukrainian Armed Forces put up a good fight in Avdiivka, but the strategically significant town has to be considered fallen to Russia for now.

Knewz.com has learned that the military chief in charge of the Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka ordered a complete retreat from the war-torn region on Saturday, February 17.

Ukrainian forces have completely withdrawn from Avdiivka. By: MEGA

Oleksandr Syrsky, the chief of the Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka, announced the decision on his official Telegram channel, saying that the life of military personnel “is of the highest value.”

“Based on the operational situation around Avdiyivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more favorable lines,” Commander Syrsky announced on Telegram.

“Our soldiers honorably fulfilled their military duty, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units and inflicted significant losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment,” he added.

The military chief said that the Ukrainian armed forces are currently taking measures to try and stabilize the situation in Avdiivka and maintain military positions.

Ukrainian armed forces are currently taking measures to try and stabilize the situation in Avdiivka and maintain military positions. By: MEGA

Russian forces had been making steady progress on the Avdiivka front while engaging the Ukrainian armed forces in fierce battles almost every day. A strategically significant region, Russia has been trying for months to win back this territory that it had claimed back at the beginning of the Ukraine invasion.

The region of Avdiivka has been on the frontline of the Ukraine war since the first invasion operation by Russia in 2014 and has seen some of the most fierce altercations between the armed forces of the two nations since 2022.

“Capturing Avdiivka is key to Russia’s aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region, and could hand President Vladimir Putin a battlefield victory to hold up to voters as he seeks re-election next month,” Reuters wrote in a recent report.

Avdiivka has finally fallen to Russian forces. By: X/Anton Gerashchenko

The armed forces of Russia have mostly faced defeat in their campaign for this region as the Ukrainian military has been able to maintain their stronghold. In one of the efforts to reclaim Avdiivka, Russia lost 900 troops in a single day, per Ukrainian claims.

However, weathered Ukrainian forces who have been engaging in fierce and bloody battles with Russia in Avdiivka almost every day, could not hold the territory in the face of a fresh and renewed assault by Putin’s forces.

Ukrainian troops in Avdiivka were experiencing severe ammunition shortages Friday morning, February 16, according to The Associated Press. Ukrainian forces were outnumbered by a ratio of seven to one in the region, stated Oleksandr Borodin, press officer of the Third Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“Our brigade is carrying out combat missions in conditions that even we could hardly imagine,” Maksym Zhorin, the brigade’s deputy commander said Thursday, CNN reports. “The battles in Avdiivka are several times more hellish than the hottest battles of this phase of the war, which took place in Bakhmut.”

Commander Syrsky vowed that Ukrainian forces would return to reclaim the lost territory. By: MEGA

The Third Assault Brigade was deployed in Avdiivka after existing Ukrainian forces were withdrawn from the region. Reuters quoted Telegram posts from the Brigade and reported that the unit described the current condition of Avdiivka as “hell,” as well as “threatening and unstable.”

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Friday, February 16, that Russia carried out a total of 33 assaults in the previous 24 hours and added that Putin’s forces have been extensively using shallow-flying glide bombs launched from planes to pound the Ukrainian military presence in the area.

Despite the recent losses and the subsequent retreat, Commander Syrsky vowed that Ukrainian forces would return to reclaim the lost territory. “We will still return Avdiivka. GLORY TO UKRAINE!” Syrsky said in his announcement.