Ukrainian forces withdrew from Avdiivka due to lack of ammunition

By Yulia Disa and Tom Balmforth

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine’s new army chief said early on Saturday that Ukrainian troops had withdrawn from the devastated eastern town of Avdiivka, paving the way for Russia’s biggest advance since May 2023 when it captured the town of Bakhmut. Had done.

Kiev said the withdrawal was announced as Ukraine faced a severe shortage of ammunition due to a several-month delay in US military aid to Congress, which was intended to completely oust troops from Russian forces after months of fierce fighting. Had to be saved from being surrounded.

Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, who took command of Ukrainian forces in a major shakeup last week, said Ukrainian forces had withdrawn to more secure locations outside the city, which had a pre-war population of 32,000.

“I decided to withdraw my units from the city and move to defense from more favorable lines in order to avoid encirclement and protect the lives and health of the soldiers,” he was quoted as saying in an armed forces statement.

The loss of the city nearly two years into Russia’s full-scale invasion could give President Volodymyr Zelensky a strong case for more immediate military aid to the West as he addresses the Munich security conference on Saturday morning.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Avdeevka was at risk of falling to Russian forces due to a shortage of ammunition after months of opposition from Republican Congress to a new US military aid package for Kiev.

The capture of Avdiivka is crucial to Russia’s aim to gain full control over the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbass region, and could give President Vladimir Putin a battlefield victory as he seeks re-election next month.

Avdiivka has borne the brunt of increasing offensive pressure from Russian forces in the east as a lull in Western military aid has increased the fatigue of troops fighting for nearly two years.

“We are taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain our position,” Sirski said.

There was no immediate comment about the withdrawal from the Russian Defense Ministry, Zelensky or the Ukrainian defense minister.

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Russia stepped up its offensive on Avdiivka in October and the situation in Ukraine had been steadily deteriorating for several weeks.

The 3rd Assault Brigade, a key Ukrainian infantry assault unit, was sent to the city this week to help reinforce troops as other Ukrainian forces withdrew from the city southeast.

The unit described the fighting as “hell” and said on social media that in some places Ukrainian defenders outnumbered Russian forces by a ratio of about six to 100.

Russia has not detailed its losses in the brutal battle for the city, but Ukrainian officials and Western military analysts say its advances in personnel and armored vehicles have come at a heavy cost.

The town, which now has fewer than 1,000 residents left, lies just north of the Russian-held stronghold of Donetsk, which Ukraine lost control of in 2014 when Moscow’s supporters launched an insurgency. There is a huge coking plant in Avdiivka which stopped working during the war.

(Reporting by Yulia Disa in Gdansk and Tom Balmforth in Kiev; Additional reporting by Maria Ponnzeth in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler and Stephen Coates)

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