(Novooleksandrivka) Russian troops launch multiple attacks in eastern Ukraine as they try to advance beyond Avdiivka, a day after Kyiv’s forces withdrew from the industrial city, the Ukrainian army said on Sunday .
Faced with a growing lack of soldiers and weapons and after months of heavy fighting, Ukraine announced its withdrawal from Avdiïvka on the night of Friday to Saturday, a major symbolic defeat a few days before the second anniversary of the Russian invasion.
“Significant Ukrainian forces” have established themselves in new positions near Avdiivka and are “ready” for Russian attacks, which “unfortunately are already underway,” the sector’s military spokesperson said on television on Sunday. , Dmytro Lykhoviy.
According to him, Russia is “trying to actively develop its offensive” in the Donetsk region.
The Ukrainian soldiers thus “repelled” on Sunday 14 attacks near Lastochkyné, a small village located less than two kilometers from the northern districts of Avdiïvka, and 23 others in the Mariïnka area, further south, General Oleksandr indicated on Telegram Tarnavsky, sector commander.
The Russian advance on Avdiïvka, the most significant since May 2023, has increased pressure on civilians in the region, who are increasingly fewer in number.
Stay or evacuate?
In the village of Novooleksandrivka, located around thirty kilometers west of Avdiïvka and where there are around 200 inhabitants, Vadym, 22, has for the moment decided not to evacuate, despite “constant” Russian bombings.
“I hope this will stop. And if this doesn’t stop, we will try to leave,” he told AFP, referring to his wife and their child born a week ago.
Avdiïvka’s fall came at a time when Ukraine has been desperately waiting for months for a vote on crucial US aid of $60 billion.
It’s “a result of Congressional inaction, which resulted in early gains [territoriaux] notables of Russia for months,” lamented US President Joe Biden.
Vladimir Putin, for his part, congratulated himself on Saturday on an “important victory”, his army claiming “total control” of Avdiïvka, largely in ruins.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed to have advanced 8.6 kilometers with the capture of this city, which has been targeted by very intense Russian attacks since October, despite heavy losses.
The fall of this locality, which only had around 900 inhabitants in recent days compared to around 34,000 before the war, has an important symbolic value for both camps.
Avdiïvka briefly fell in July 2014 into the hands of separatists led by Moscow before returning to Ukrainian control. It is only a dozen kilometers from Donetsk, the separatist “capital” which has escaped the control of Kyiv for ten years.
Ukrainian forces acknowledged soldiers were captured during the withdrawal, without giving details.
Assaults in the south
On Sunday, the Telegram channel DeepState, close to the Ukrainian army, claimed that Russian forces had shot and killed six Ukrainian soldiers, including four wounded, in a position south of Avdiika, probably on Thursday. The Ukrainian authorities have so far not commented on these assertions.
Kyiv’s ground forces, however, accused Russia of having executed by shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war on Sunday in the east, but outside the Avdiivka sector.
In the south of the country, the Ukrainian army also reported Russian attacks in the Zaporizhia region on Sunday.
The forces of Kyiv thus repelled, according to General Tarnavsky, 13 Russian “assault attempts” near the villages of Robotyné and Verbové, one of the rare places where the Ukrainians had regained ground during their 2023 counter-offensive which largely failed.
Later, spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy downplayed the seriousness of these attacks, assuring that Moscow did not have enough forces for a breakthrough.
“I would like to calm the panic a little […] These are in all likelihood local attempts to target Robotyné,” he said on television, assuring that “the enemy received a kick in the teeth and withdrew.”
Ukraine investigates alleged execution of eight prisoners of war
The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office announced on Sunday that it had opened investigations into the alleged execution by Russian soldiers of eight prisoners of war in eastern Ukraine, notably near Avdiivka, the day after the withdrawal of Kyiv forces from this city. .
“The shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Avdiivka and Vesselé: investigations have begun,” the General Prosecutor’s Office of Ukraine said on Telegram.
Earlier in the day, the Telegram channel DeepState, close to the Ukrainian army, claimed that the Russian army had executed by shooting six Ukrainian soldiers, including four wounded, surrounded in a position south of Avdiivka, probably on Thursday , before the complete Ukrainian withdrawal from this industrial city.
“The armed forces are verifying the circumstances of the death of a group of Ukrainian servicemen captured when they were leaving the Zenit position on the southern outskirts of Avdiivka,” spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy said on television on Sunday evening. Ukrainian military in this area.
The Ukrainian army had announced the day before that soldiers had been captured during the withdrawal from Avdiivka, without giving details.
Ukrainian ground forces for their part accused Russian soldiers on Sunday of having executed by shooting two prisoners of war in another area of eastern Ukraine.
On Sunday morning, “the Russians once again showed their attitude towards international humanitarian law by shooting two Ukrainian prisoners of war,” they said on Telegram.
The ground forces broadcast a short black and white video made from a drone in which we can see a soldier shooting at point blank range at two soldiers who are in the same trench as him and who do not offer any resistance.
AFP is unable to verify the authenticity of these images.
According to the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office, the incident took place near the village of Vesselé, northeast of Bakhmut, a town captured by Russia in May 2023 after months of fierce fighting.
The two belligerents have already repeatedly accused each other of having killed prisoners of war since the start, in February 2022, of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In March 2023, a video appeared to show a captured Ukrainian soldier, executed by gunfire after saying “glory to Ukraine!” ”, had gone viral.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights recalled at the time that it had “documented numerous violations of international humanitarian law against prisoners of war, including cases of summary executions of prisoners of Russian and Ukrainian war.