The Ukrainian army withdrew on Saturday February 17 from the town of Avdiïvka, after months of intense fighting in this town in the east of the country. “In accordance with the order received, [nous nous] We are withdrawn from Avdiïvka to go to positions prepared in advance”, announced during the night from Friday to Saturday the Ukrainian general, Oleksandr Tarnavsky, who commands this zone, in a message on Telegram. Ukraine concedes to Russia its greatest symbolic victory after the failure of the counter-offensive launched by kyiv last summer. Follow our live stream.
Ukrainian soldiers “captured” by Russian forces. Before formalizing the abandonment of the city, General Tarnavsky had recognized that “several soldiers” Ukrainians had been “captured” by Russian forces, who are “surplus in terms of manpower, artillery and aviation”. The city is largely destroyed but some 900 civilians remain there, according to local authorities. Moscow hopes its capture will make Ukrainian bombing of Donetsk more difficult.
France and Ukraine sign a security agreement. The abandonment of Avdiïvka by Ukrainian forces comes at a time when Volodymyr Zelensky is leading a European tour. Traveling to Paris on Friday evening, the Ukrainian president signed a bilateral security agreement with Emmanuel Macron supposed to guarantee long-term civil and military support for Ukraine. In this text, France undertakes to provide in 2024 “up to 3 billion euros” military aid “additional” in kyiv, after support which it estimates at 1.7 billion in 2022 and 2.1 billion in 2023.
Volodymyr Zelensky expected at the Munich Security Conference. The Ukrainian president will travel to the Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Saturday, where he will deliver a speech at 9:30 a.m. During the day, he is also due to meet with the American vice-president, Kamala Harris, and the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz.