Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) units defending Avdiivka in the Donetsk region have been withdrawn from the city. This was announced by the Chief of the General Staff of the UAF, Alexander Syrsky, on the night of Saturday, February 17. «Based on the operational situation that has developed around Avdiivka, in order to avoid being surrounded and to preserve the lives and health of the servicemen, I have made the decision to withdraw our units from the city and transition to a defensive position on more advantageous front lines,” Syrsky wrote on his Facebook page, noting that «the lives of servicemen are of the utmost value.»
In turn, the commander of the «Tavria» operational-strategic group of forces, Alexander Tarnavsky, wrote on Telegram that the Ukrainian defenders left Avdiivka for pre-prepared positions «according to the received order.» «In a situation where the enemy advances over the bodies of his own soldiers with a ratio of ten-to-one in terms of shells, under constant bombardment, this is the only correct decision,» Tarnavsky added.
Russian troops entered Avdiivka
The Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState, which collects and analyzes information from open sources, published a photo showing Russian servicemen raising the flag of their unit, presumably in the central city park of Avdiivka. It was also reported that Russian military units entered the territory of the railway hospital.