Finally, America and the West, cowed by the dictator Putin, were once again shamelessly defeated on the soil of Ukraine.

 Russia fully takes over the Avdiivka Coke Plant, according to the Defense Ministry.

After months of conflict, Ukrainian forces leave the strategically important eastern town of Avdiivka.

The Ukrainian military has declared that it is pulling out of Avdiivka, a strategically important town that has recently seen one of the most hotly fought engagements on the eastern front.

The action came after Moscow escalated its bombardment of the region, launching wave after wave of ground assaults by infantry and armored vehicles in addition to heavy artillery and airstrikes.

Although the town has little strategic value, Avdiivka represents Moscow's largest victory since taking Bakhmut last year and shows how the war seems to be going more in Russian President Vladimir Putin's favor.

In the meantime, shortages of both people and ammunition are adding to the pressure that Ukraine is under once again on the eastern front.

The decision to withdraw from Avdiivka was decided in order to "save our soldiers' lives," according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who was speaking on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference.


It was decided to withdraw to other lines so as not to get surrounded. This does not imply that people withdrew a few kilometers and that Russia gained anything; on the contrary, he continued.

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a statement on Saturday stating that Sergei Shoigu, the minister of defense, had declared the city to be fully under Russian control.

According to the ministry statement and state-run media RIA Novosti, Shoigu notified Putin, who congratulated Russian Colonel-General Andrei Mordvichev, commander of the "Center" group of forces, on seizing control of the city.

Since 2014, when Russian-backed rebels captured much of the Donbas region, including the neighboring city of Donetsk, Avdiivka has been at the forefront of the conflict. Since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, it has come under attack.

Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine's southern forces, stated in a Telegram post on Friday that withdrawing from the town, which is northwest of Donetsk city, was "the only correct solution," adding that several Ukrainian troops had been taken by Russia during the process.

"This is the only correct solution in a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of their own soldiers, under constant bombardment, with a ten-to-one shell advantage." the commander stated. Tarnavskyi continued, "Russian troops are numerically superior in terms of personnel, artillery, and aviation."

He claimed that within the previous 24 hours, Moscow's forces had launched 20 airstrikes and more than 150 artillery attacks in the region, and that the Russians were "practically erasing the city from the face of the earth."

The choice was made shortly after Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine's new military chief, and Rustem Umerov, the country's defense minister, visited the front lines in Avdiivka and promised to deploy troops in order to "prevent the enemy from advancing deeper into our territory."

But by Thursday, the enemy was "coming from all sides" and the situation in the town was described as "hellish" by the Ukrainian forces fighting to retain it.


In a Facebook post on Friday, Syrskyi stated that he was relocating soldiers to protect "more favorable lines" and that he had ordered the pullback "to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen."

"Everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units and inflict significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment," he said of the Ukrainian soldiers.

The speaker stated that Ukraine was "taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain positions," emphasizing the importance of military personnel's lives.

The 3rd Assault Brigade commander, who led one of the most combat-tested groups in Ukraine ordered to defend Avdiivka, stated that the withdrawal allowed Ukrainian forces to "come back and strike even harder."

"I express my gratitude to the command for their thoughtful decision," Andrii Biletsky wrote on Saturday on Telegram. "I express my gratitude to the soldiers for their valiant resistance against the adversary in Avdiivka, despite the Russians' overwhelming numerical advantage in terms of manpower, equipment, and shells," he continued.

Moscow seems to have determined that, given its numerical advantage, these casualties were worthwhile despite the fact that Russia has also sustained enormous losses in its advance on Avdiivka.
An emblem of Ukraine's hardships

Without a doubt, Avdiivka's departure is a blow to Ukraine.

Months after it was launched, a counteroffensive that sought to retake significant territory has failed, and the nation is beginning to see that its previously resolute support from the West is eroding, especially from the US, its main partner.

Furthermore, turning the war back to Russia will be extremely difficult for Syrskyi, Ukraine's new army chief, given that his country is trailing behind in other areas of the front.

In October, Moscow's forces launched an operation in the vicinity of Avdiivka. Since then, waves of men and armored vehicles have been pressuring it, turning it into a site of intense warfare under constant Russian shelling.

Russia had been focusing its efforts on taking up the surrounding districts and encircling Avdiivka.

Serhii Tsekhotskyi, an officer in Ukraine, recently revealed to Ukrainian media that Russia is sending out a sizable military force to fight for Avdiivka. He insisted, many were being slain.

He declared, "They do not spare their people."



The Russian attack was reminiscent of the "meat-grinder" methods employed to take Bakhmut last year; according to a NATO source, Russia lost five soldiers for every Ukrainian soldier killed defending Bakhmut.

However, Ukrainian forces that were deeply rooted in the region had halted Moscow's advances in Avdiivka.

CNN published a story in November on how Oleh Sentsov, a former well-known filmmaker from Ukraine, used helmet and body cameras to record a 5-hour combat in Avdiivka to show the horrors of the trenches and the brutality of war. He and his men were engaged in combat from all sides as Russian forces used a pincer movement against them.

"Our attack team was required to hold a 150-meter-wide trench. In a rare interview with CNN, Sentsov stated, "We went in, took 50 meters, and could not push further because there was strong resistance by a lot of enemy infantry there."

In December, Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, referred to the fighting in the city as a "onslaught" and stated that it may "determine the overall course of the war" in numerous ways.

Pressure across the front

Following the town's capture, Ukraine has been alerted to the possibility of a fresh Russian onslaught along most of the front line, with intense fighting occurring in the northeast near the boundary between the regions of Kharkiv and Luhansk.

Moscow's forces have not made any significant progress there, but Ukraine has been obliged to cede several areas of land that it had successfully retaken in the late summer of 2022.


The new round of Russian offensives coincides with reports from Ukraine that it is severely short on ammunition, which is vital for its combat forces.

President Joe Biden's national security adviser warned late last year that "we are running out of money, and we are nearly out of time," sparking growing concerns that Ukraine's US lifeline is dangling by a thread.

In their conversation on Saturday, Biden made a clear connection between the US Congress's failure to approve more military aid for Ukraine and the Ukrainian pullout from Avdiivka.

"Russia made its first significant gains in months this morning when the Ukrainian military was forced to evacuate Avdiivka due to decreasing munitions supplies brought on by congressional inactivity. A White House readout of the call stated that President Biden stressed the necessity for Congress to swiftly approve the national security supplemental budget package in order to resupply Ukrainian soldiers.

On February 7, in the face of a barrage of criticism from prominent House Republicans and former President Donald Trump, Senate Republicans vetoed a significant bipartisan border agreement and foreign aid package that included cash for Israel and Ukraine. The White House is trying again to get Congress to approve military assistance for Ukraine, but it is not at all apparent that House Republicans would back it.

Since the Hamas attack on Israel last year and the escalating crisis in the Middle East, there have been worries that Ukraine is falling further down the West's priority.

Zelensky, meantime, announced early in February that General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the head of Ukraine's armed forces, had been fired. This was the largest military change since Russia began its full-scale invasion over two years prior.

Putin has even greater motivation to win in Ukraine because of an upcoming election in Russia the following month. The head of the Kremlin is anticipated to win the election and serve as president until 2030. He is seeking a fifth term.

As they look farther forward to 2024, NATO allies worry that Putin would undertake a more extensive onslaught after winning what are regarded as a formality in the eyes of global observers—his country's March presidential elections.

We will be updating this story as it develops.