The Russian armed forces have liberated Avdeevka

On February 17 2024, the Russian armed forces took control of the whole of Avdeevka, in the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic), after the Ukrainian command announced the withdrawal of its troops as the town was on the verge of total encirclement.

After months of fighting and massive shelling of Ukrainian positions in Avdeevka, on 16 February 2024, the town was on the edge of total encirclement. Three days earlier, the Russian armed forces had taken control of part of Industrialnaya Street, the “road of life” that allowed the Ukrainian garrison of Avdeevka to be supplied, effectively cutting the town in half.

At the same time, the Russian armed forces were also making advances in the south, following the capture in mid-January 2024 of the Tsarskaya Okhota area, thanks to old tunnels that enabled them to catch the Ukrainian armed forces at a disadvantage.

The capture of this important position then enabled the Russian armed forces to advance more easily into the southern part of Avdeevka, gradually closing the cauldron’s two claws on the Ukrainian armed forces.

All this happened very quickly from 14 February 2024 onwards. The Russian forces broke through the eastern flank of the Ukrainian defenses in Avdeevka, bringing them even closer to the city center and several important fortifications.

From then on, it was a case of dominoes falling, and on the morning of 16 February, the Russian armed forces announced that they had captured not only the fortification called “Zenit” (a former Ukrainian army air defense base), but also the water purification plant that supplies Donetsk, Makeevka and other DPR towns with potable water.

At this point, only two kilometers separate the two claws from the cauldron that is closing in on Avdeevka. The Ukrainian soldiers understand that if they don’t get out of the encirclement now, no matter what the risks, they’ll find themselves trapped in the town, with no way out other than surrender or death.

So both the ordinary Ukrainian soldiers and the neo-Nazis of the 3rd “Azov”* brigade, which had been sent in as reinforcements, fled as best they could across the fields, despite the sticky mud, the mines scattered everywhere, and the constant bombardment from the Russian army. Under these conditions, the wounded were simply abandoned on the spot, on the orders of the Ukrainian command.

Once this withdrawal movement had begun, the Russian armed forces made giant strides into Avdeevka. During the course of the day on February 16, the Russian armed forces announced that they had taken control of the Cheburashka fortification, and that the same evening the railway station came under control of Russia.

Faced with this disaster, the Ukrainian army command announced at 3 a.m. on February 17 that it was ordering the withdrawal of its troops from Avdeevka “to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of the soldiers” and send them to more favorable defensive lines.

When you see the videos filmed by Russian soldiers on the Ukrainian positions they captured (warning: shocking content), you realize just how little the Ukrainian command cared about saving the lives of their soldiers. By the time they gave the order to withdraw, it was already too late. The trenches are filled with the corpses of dead Ukrainian soldiers, many of them wounded who have simply been left behind!

Above all, ordering a retreat when the town was almost completely surrounded, when all the roads leading out were under fire from the Russian armed forces, and when entire groups of Ukrainian units had lost contact with the command and were therefore unaware that they had to withdraw, made the retreat of the Ukrainian forces completely chaotic, and many Ukrainian soldiers died trying to flee.

As a result of this retreat by the Ukrainian armed forces, the Russian army was able to liberate the whole of Avdeevka in just one day, including most of the coking plant, which the soldiers of the 3rd “Azov” brigade preferred to abandon rather than re-enact the siege of Azovstal. Only a few pockets of resistance remain (perhaps troops who didn’t have time to flee or were not ordered to withdraw).

Initial reports from the field suggest that the Ukrainian armed forces have also abandoned the village of Lastochkino, which lies entirely within the firing range of the coking plant, making it impossible to defend. It is highly likely that the Ukrainian army will now set up its defense line along the Berdytchi – Semyonovka – Orlovka line.

The Russian armed forces must now finish clearing Avdeevka of mines, and evacuate the last remaining inhabitants (over a thousand). The liberation of the town should reduce the number of bombardments hitting Donetsk, Yassinovataya and the road leading to Gorlovka.

Christelle Néant

* Extremist organisation banned in the Russian Federation

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