The Ukrainian army withdrew from the city of Avdiivka (east), where the situation has deteriorated considerably in recent days, announced the Ukrainian general, who commands the area. “In accordance with the order received, we withdrew from Avdiivka to positions prepared in advance,” wrote Oleksandre Tarnavsky, on Friday evening, on the Telegram platform.
This was Russia’s biggest symbolic victory since the failure of Kiev’s counteroffensive last summer. “In a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of its own soldiers and has ten times more shells (…) this is the only correct decision,” said General Tarnavsky.
Ukrainian forces thus avoided being surrounded near this largely destroyed industrial city, he said. This was the first major decision taken by the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandre Syrsky, after being appointed on February 8, and was justified by the desire “to preserve” the lives of soldiers.
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