Ukraine withdraws troops from Avdiivka

Ukraine (Svidomi) — Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi has announced the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka.

This decision was made to avoid complete encirclement and to save the lives of the soldiers, as Russian troops have almost surrounded the city.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief says that the Ukrainian military "have fulfilled their military duty with dignity, done everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, and inflicted significant losses in manpower and equipment on the enemy".

"We are taking measures to stabilise the situation and hold our positions. The lives of servicemen are of the highest value. We will take back Avdiivka anyway," said Syrsky.

General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of the Tavria operational-strategic group responsible for the Avdiivka sector, said that the troops had withdrawn from Avdiivka to their previously prepared positions.

"In a situation where the enemy is advancing over the corpses of their soldiers with a ten-to-one shelling advantage, under constant bombardment, this is the only right decision," he added.

The command of the Third Separate Assault Brigade, which was recently redeployed to the Avdiivka direction, thanked the military for "a worthy fight in the face of total Russian numerical superiority in manpower, equipment and shells."

Avdiivka is a small town in the Pokrovsk district, Donetsk region. It is located 13 km north of the temporarily occupied Donetsk.