According to a spokesman for the Kiev army, Russian troops launched several attacks west of the city of Avdiivka this Sunday to gain more ground in this area of eastern Ukraine. Outnumbered and materially inferior, Ukrainian soldiers withdrew Saturday from this eastern front town that has been under a fierce Russian offensive for months. The withdrawal of Kiev troops gives Moscow its first major territorial advance since May 2023.
“The enemy is actively trying to develop its offensive,” Dmytro Lykhoviy, spokesman for the Ukrainian army commander who commands Kiev troops in the region, said on state television. The military authorities reported that sand had stopped 14 Russian attacks against the city of Lastochkyneabout two kilometers west of Avdiivka.
They also mentioned that Kiev forces repelled 13 “attack attempts” near the villages of Robotyne et Verbove in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, one of the few places where Ukrainian troops recaptured territory during their failed counteroffensive in 2023. Lykhoviy, breakthrough into this area Given the strong Ukrainian defense lines and natural terrain conditions, this would be “very difficult” for Russia. “The situation in the Zaporizhzhia sector is stable (…) There have been no job losses in the Zaporizhzhia sector,” he said on television.. “The enemy was kicked in the teeth and retreated.” he added.
In Avdiivka, however, the Russian President, Vladimir Putin celebrated an “important victory” on Saturday.. A few days into the war, two years into the war, Moscow claimed “total control” of the city. The battle for Avdiivka, along with the battle for Bakhmut, also in the east, was one of the bloodiest since the Russian invasion began in February 2022.
The city has symbolic value for both parties to the conflict. In July 2014 it briefly fell into the hands of pro-Russian separatists before being recaptured by Kiev. It is also a few kilometers from Donetsk, the “capital” of the separatists, which is under Russian control. The Ukrainian army announced Saturday that it was withdrawing from the city to “save as many lives as possible,” as President Volodymyr Zelensky put it.
During the withdrawal, some Ukrainian soldiers were captured, the army said, without giving further details. The Russian capture of the city raises fears that Moscow’s troops will now try to occupy more areas in Donetsk, a region that Russia has reportedly annexed. In the village of Novooleksandrivka, about 30 kilometers west, Vadym, a local resident, told AFP that he had decided to stay despite the “constant” shelling.
He lives with his wife and his son, who was born a week ago. “I hope they stop. And if they don’t stop, we will try to leave the city,” said the 22-year-old young man. Zelensky on Saturday lamented the lack of ammunition and long-range weapons in his army at a time when military aid to Ukraine is threatened by political disputes in the United States.
US President Joe Biden on Saturday blamed congressional “inaction” for the fall of Avdiivka. Republicans are currently blocking a $60 billion military aid package for this former Soviet republic.
Ukraine is investigating executions
On the other hand, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday that it had opened an investigation into the alleged execution of eight prisoners of war by the Russian military in the east of the country, particularly near Avdiivka. “Execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Avdiivka and Vesele by bullets: an investigation has begun,” the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said on Telegram.
The DeepState Telegram account, which is considered close to the Ukrainian military, previously reported that the Russian army shot six Ukrainian soldiers, including two wounded, at a position south of Avdiivka on Thursday. The Ukrainian army, in turn, accused Russia on Sunday of shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war in the east of the country. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of executing prisoners of war since the beginning of the conflict.