Ukraine Withdraws From Embattled Avdiivka Under Russian Pressure

(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine’s military announced it’s withdrawing troops from the embattled eastern city of Avdiivka, near Russian-occupied Donetsk, to avoid them being surrounded and cut off by Moscow’s advancing forces.

“Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city,” Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post on Facebook on Saturday. Troops will move over to defense “on more favorable lines,” he said.

Ukraine is struggling with dwindling military supplies and Russian forces on the offensive at a time of uncertainty over ongoing aid from the US.

Avdiivka, an industrial satellite city located just north of Donetsk — the regional capital effectively under Kremlin control since 2014 — has been battered by bombardment and heavy fighting since the spring of 2022. 

Russia is pressing its advantage as Ukraine’s military runs low on ammunition. The Kremlin had made taking Avdiivka a priority in a year when neither side is expected to make major strategic gains on the battlefield.

The US Senate this week approved $95 billion in assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delay, but the legislation still faces formidable obstacles in the House of Representatives. 

European officials, who recently approved a more than $50 billion aid package for Ukraine, have been increasingly concerned by the delays in Washington.

“Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment,” Syrskyi said in the post.

Syrskyi, who only took the top job this month, had dispatched reinforcements to Avdiivka a few days ago. Ukraine’s supply issues mean it has now switched to defending areas under its control, following the failure to seize back territory with a counteroffensive last year.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will hit the two-year mark on Feb. 24.

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