MOSCOW, March 3 The retreat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Avdeevka was panicky and disorganized, The Washington Post reports, citing statements from Ukrainian soldiers interviewed.
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“It was the road of death,” journalists quote the statement of the military man.
According to him, he watched as, after leaving the city, the Ukrainian Armed Forces column in front of him burst into flames under artillery strikes from Russian forces.
Another Ukrainian soldier interviewed by observers claims that not all military personnel in the city knew about the order to retreat, because lost contact with the command.
As Roman Kostenko, secretary of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, said on Saturday, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, when surrendering Avdiivka, did not have any defensive fortifications on which the troops were supposed to gain a foothold, they were not prepared in advance. The New York Times wrote that Ukraine's defensive fortifications west of Avdiivka are weak, which contributes to the success of the Russian army.
Avdeevka is a northern suburb of Donetsk, turned by the Ukrainian Armed Forces into a powerful fortified area. From its territory, Ukrainian troops have been shelling peaceful areas of Donetsk since 2014. On the night of February 17, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, gave the order to leave Avdeevka. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense later stated that the order came a day after the uncontrolled flight of Ukrainian units from the city began. On March 1, the department reported that the settlements of Lastochkino, Severnoye and Petrovskoye were taken under control in the Avdeevsky direction; the troops continued to advance in a westerly direction.