After the “chaotic flight” of Ukrainians to Avdievka, Putin congratulates himself on a new victory

If this information is correct, it will be very bad news for Kyiv. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced another military success in the southern Kherson region on Tuesday, days after the “chaotic flight” of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka.

Last November, with great difficulty, the Ukrainian army managed to form a bridgehead on the Russian-occupied bank of the Dnieper near the city of Kherson. It was one of Ukraine’s modest successes in a failed counteroffensive launched last spring. Since the capture of this bridgehead, Moscow has been trying to push the Ukrainians back across the river.

“The banks have been cleared, we de facto control the entire bank,” Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday after the Russian head of state asked him, following footage broadcast by the Russians in the media and an officer’s report, to confirm that this bridgehead had been won . “This is really so,” the minister assured. However, Kyiv did not confirm this information on Tuesday evening.

Kyiv was unlucky

The announcement came shortly after Russia captured Avdiivka, a city in eastern Ukraine, after months of fighting.

While Ukraine claimed it ordered its troops to withdraw from the destroyed city to “save lives,” Vladimir Putin called it a “chaotic flight.” “This happened at the moment when the command of the Ukrainian army gave the order to withdraw its forces, which were already on the move and leaving the area,” the Kremlin owner joked.

The Russian president believed that this withdrawal order was given “for political reasons, in order to hide this movement and create the appearance of an organized withdrawal.” “In fact, it was a literal leak,” he added.

Sergei Shoigu said on Saturday that the Ukrainian army’s retreat took place “under continuous fire from Russian troops,” while Kyiv, for its part, admitted that several of its soldiers were captured, accusing the Russian army of executing six of them.

According to the Russian minister, Ukrainian forces “left behind many prisoners and wounded, a lot of weapons” and military equipment.

“Big success”

He believed that the capture of Avdiivka, turned by Ukrainian troops into a fortified point with “underground for movement,” was a “great success” for Moscow.

According to Sergei Shoigu, the soldiers who fought there are “resting and preparing for new battles,” and the Russian army continues its offensive on several sectors of the front.

Vladimir Putin hailed the “success” at Avdiivka and called for its “development” as Ukrainian forces face ammunition shortages due to new US aid being blocked by supporters of former US President Donald Trump in Congress.