After months of fierce fighting, Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from parts of Avdiivka in eastern Donetsk, according to Kyiv officials.
“Maneuvers are underway in some places to withdraw our units to more advantageous positions,” Dmytro Lykhoviy, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said on Feb. 15. “Supplies to Avdiivka—and evacuations from there—remain difficult,” he added in televised comments.
Fighting has raged in the town since last October, with Russian forces seeking to encircle it and the Ukrainian troops that remain there. Russian forces have surrounded Avdiivka on three sides—from the north, east, and south—thereby threatening Ukraine’s increasingly vulnerable supply lines.
According to Mr. Lykhoviy, military planners in Kyiv have set up a “reserve logistics artery” in western Avdiivka to supply troops. In a nightly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv was “doing everything possible to ensure our soldiers [in Avdiivka] have sufficient managerial and technological capabilities.”
U.S. officials, meanwhile, have confirmed the increasingly dire situation faced by Ukrainian forces still holed up in the town. “Avdiivka is at risk of falling into Russian control,” John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, said at a Feb. 15 press briefing.
Describing the fighting as “incredibly intense,” he said Russian forces were “now reaching Ukrainian trenches in Avdiivka, and they’re beginning to overwhelm Ukrainian defenses.”
Mr. Kirby attributed the deteriorating state of affairs to Kyiv’s dwindling stocks of artillery shells. “We’re getting reports … that the situation is critical,” he added.
Avdiivka’s capture would bring Moscow one step closer to asserting full control over the eastern Donbas region, which has long been a key Russian objective. Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022 with the stated aim of protecting Russian speakers in Donbas and preempting the further eastward expansion of NATO.
Seven months later, it unilaterally annexed Donetsk and Luhansk—which together comprise the Donbas region—along with Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. Since then, Moscow has regarded all four regions as Russian Federation territory.
Reinforcements Arrive
In the hope of holding onto the town, Kyiv has rushed its Third Assault Brigade, an elite fighting unit, to relieve its embattled troops. Comprised mainly of infantry, the brigade took part in a Ukrainian counter-offensive last year that fell short of achieving its ambitious territorial aims.The Third Assault Brigade also took part in the months-long fight for Bakhmut, another strategic town in Donetsk. Located 30 miles north of Avdiivka, Bakhmut fell to Russian forces in May of last year.
Maksym Zhorin, the brigade’s deputy commander, said fighting in Avdiivka is more intense than that seen last year in Bakhmut due to superior Russian firepower and greater troop numbers. According to Mr. Lykhoviy, the Ukrainian military spokesman, Russia has deployed some 50,000 troops along the Avdiivka frontline, including tactical assault groups that he said were growing in size.
“Armored groups—in the form of tanks and other armored vehicles—are joining them,” he said. In a social media post, the Third Assault Brigade said Russia was “actively rotating” its troops in and around Avdiivka and “deploying new forces and equipment to the town.”
Describing the battlefield situation as “extremely critical,” the brigade nevertheless claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties on Russian forces deployed in the vicinity. The Epoch Times could not independently verify the assertion.
Moscow, for its part, remains tight-lipped regarding unfolding events in Avdiivka, and Russia’s defense ministry seldom mentions the town in its daily briefings. Russian officials often accuse Ukrainian forces deployed in Avdiivka of using the town to shell civilian areas in nearby Donetsk.
Held by Russian forces since 2022, Donetsk city sits roughly 12 miles east of Avdiivka. Last November, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg conceded that the battlefield situation in Avdiivka was “more difficult than we hoped.” In December, Valery Zaluzhny, Ukraine’s then-defense minister, warned that Russia would likely turn Avdiivka “into another Bakhmut within two to three months.”
