The withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from the town of Avdiivka was a “fair decision” For “save as many lives as possible”while Ukrainian soldiers were struggling to resist the onslaught of Russian troops, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted on Saturday February 17 from the podium of the Munich Security Conference. By abandoning this city in the east of the country, Ukraine conceded 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.
Three dead in bombing in occupied eastern Ukraine. A Ukrainian bombing left at least three dead and four injured in Panteleimonivka, a village in the Ukrainian region of Donetsk, controlled by Russian forces, an official of the occupation authorities said on Saturday. The toll could rise, because “we clear the rubble”said Dmitry Shevchenko, head of the local municipal district.
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.