After months of fierce fighting, Ukraine’s military chief said on Saturday that his men had left the destroyed town in the east of the country. This led Russian President Vladimir Putin to call the capture of Avdiivka “an important victory.”
While the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian troops were still defending the town’s coke plant, Moscow’s move on Avdiivka was its most significant since it took Bakhmut in May.
For months, Congress had been delaying new U.S. military aid to Ukraine, and the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was just a few days away. At the same time, Ukraine was severely short on ammo.

It’s also the most vital sign that the war has turned in Moscow’s favor after the Ukrainian counteroffensive failed to break through Russian lines last year.
It was a big win for the Russian forces, and the head of state praised them, the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.
Because of a lack of ammo, U.S. President Joe Biden warned this week that Avdiivka could fall to Russian forces. This comes after months of Republican opposition in Congress to a new U.S. military aid plan for Kyiv.
A statement from the White House on Saturday said that Biden called Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, to stress that the United States would continue to back Ukraine. Biden also told Zelenskiy that Congress must pass the package to resupply Ukrainian troops immediately.
The White House said that Ukraine had to withdraw because “supplies were running low because Congress did nothing.” This meant that Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition, which led to “Russia’s first notable gains in months.”
Taking the city is expected to boost Russia’s mood before Putin’s re-election bid next month, which he will almost certainly win.
Russian and pro-Russian troops have held the regional center of Donetsk, which is about 20 km (12 miles) to the east, since 2014. This is another step toward ensuring Moscow’s control over that area.
Russia hasn’t said how many soldiers and armored vehicles it has lost in the brutal fighting. Still, Ukrainian officials and Western military experts say that Russia’s gains have come at a terrible cost in terms of lives and vehicles.
“Eternal glory to the heroes who fell in fulfilling the tasks of the special military operation!” Putin wrote a message to honor the troops who had died in the battle.
Also, Russia still doesn’t fully control the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical plant on the town’s northwest edge. Before the war, it was the last refuge of Avdiivka, Ukraine’s biggest coke producer. Now it’s in ashes.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said in a video posted on the ministry’s Telegram channel, “Steps are being taken to completely clear the city of militants and to block Ukrainian units that have left the city and are entrenched at the Avdiivka Coke and Chemical Plant.”

ZELENSKIY IMPLORES WEST FOR SUPPLIES

At the Munich Security Conference, Zelenskiy praised his troops for “exhausting” Russian forces in Avdiivka. He also asked his Western partners to send more military aid and said that the pullout might have been partly due to a lack of weapons.
“Now, (the military) will replenish; they will wait for the relevant weapons, of which there simply weren’t enough; there simply aren’t enough,” he stated. “Russia has long-range weapons, while we simply don’t have enough.”
As Zelenskiy wrote on X, he hoped that the U.S. Congress would make a “wise decision.”

He said of his call with Biden, “We talked about the current situation on the front lines.” “I am grateful to have President Biden’s full support.”
He said representatives from both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives met with Zelenskiy in Munich.
“We hope that the House of Representatives will make decisions to ensure further necessary U.S. support for Ukraine,” he stated. “We must win this war.”
Rustem Umerov, the defense minister of Ukraine, said that Avdiivka showed how important it is to have modern air defense systems to protect against guided bombs and long-range weapons that can destroy enemy forces. He said they also needed gun shells.
After a major shakeup last week, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi took over as head of the Ukrainian military. He said that Ukrainian forces had moved back to safer areas outside of the town, which had 32,000 people living there before the war, “to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen.”
Officials say Ukraine’s 3rd Assault Brigade was sent to Avdiivka this week. On Telegram, the brigade said it had moved back to prepared positions on the edges of Avdiivka and leveled the front line.
“The Russians are not slowing down their attack at this time.” “The line will stay in place around Avdiivka,” it said.
Russia has been putting more offensive pressure on Ukraine in the east since October. Due to the delay in Western military aid, Ukrainian forces are even more exhausted after battling since 2022.
It looked like Ukraine’s situation would be tough for weeks.
A well-known infantry attack unit, the Third Attack Brigade, was sent quickly to the town this week to help add to the troops there as other Ukrainian forces pulled back from the southeast of it.