War in Ukraine: after Avdeevka, the Russian army continues its offensive in the east and south, Kyiv reports

Putin’s people were undoubtedly encouraged by the capture of Avdievka. A day after Kyiv troops withdrew from this eastern city, Russian troops are trying to advance further into the region as well as into southern Ukraine, launching multiple attacks, a commander said Sunday. Ukrainians are in the area.

“In the Avdeevka area, the Ukrainian military repelled 14 attacks by the occupiers in the Lastochkino area,” a small village located less than two kilometers from the northern districts of Avdeevka, Donetsk region, General Alexander Tarnavsky said on Telegram.

Faced with a growing shortage of soldiers and weapons, the Ukrainian army announced its withdrawal from Avdiivka on the night of Friday to Saturday. It was a “fair decision” designed to “save as many lives as possible,” Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said on Saturday.

Moscow congratulated itself on its “important victory,” declaring “full control” of Avdiivka days before the second anniversary of the invasion.

Symbolic catch

On Sunday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said it had advanced 8.6 kilometers (8.6 kilometers) to capture the largely ruined city, which has come under intense Russian attack since October despite heavy casualties.

The fall of this city, which had only about 900 inhabitants in recent days, down from about 34,000 before the war, has important symbolic significance for both camps.

Avdiivka briefly fell into the hands of Moscow-led separatists in July 2014 before returning to Ukrainian control. It is just a dozen kilometers from Donetsk, the separatist “capital” that has been under Kyiv’s control for a decade.

The Russians are also on the offensive in the south

Further south, in the Marinka area, Russian troops “tried to break through the defenses of our troops 23 times,” added General Tarnavsky, also reporting an offensive by Russian troops in the southern region of Zaporozhye.

According to a senior officer, Kyiv forces repelled 13 Russian “attempts to attack” in the area of ​​the villages of Robotino and Verbovoe (Zaporozhye region), one of the rare places where the Ukrainians managed to retake positions in a 2023 counteroffensive that largely failed.

“The enemy suffered significant losses in manpower and armored vehicles,” the commander assured.