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fear spreads small towns of eastern ukraine After the fall of the strategic stronghold of Avdiivka On 17th February. PokrovskThere is a mining area 45 km northwest of Avdiivka. crowded with soldiersMany of whom have just retired from the city. According to reports Russian attack In the hours following the return from Avdiivka they killed five people in three other eastern cities. Although these sites are far from the front, the sound of artillery is clear in all of them. It never stops for long.
On 18 February, guards at the Pokrovsk military hospital said that the number of casualties that had occurred in the previous days had ended, meaning that the withdrawal from Avdeevka had ended. Heavily fortified, Avdiivka remained at the center of the Russian besieged core for a decade. Although their fall is a blow, Major Rodion KudryashovThe deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, which helped cover the withdrawal, says he has a long-term view, having been fighting the Russians since 2014. “We lost a little battle”They say, “But we have not lost the war”,
The question is whether Russian forces will hold their advantage and advance from Avdiivka, or attack elsewhere. On February 19, Russian attacks were reported in several sectors. But Commander Kudryashov says so They do not believe that the Russians can continue to advance beyond Avdeevka., at least in the short term. Because even when Ukrainian forces retreated, they were still able to attack strong attack on the enemy,
According to oleksandr tarnavskyGeneral Commander of the Sector, 47,000 Russians killed or wounded In the four-month battle for Avdiivka, a figure that is impossible to confirm. Ukrainian forces do not disclose their casualties, although commander Kudryashov claims were very inferior,
The commander of a drone unit who returned the day before the crash says that, during a five-hour period last week, he saw about 200 Russians running across exposed terrain. He says that Ukrainian soldiers did not have enough ammunition to kill them all, but not even half of them succeeded.
Major Kudryashov says the Russians won because they had the advantage eleven times more than the artillery sight And, in the 12 days before the collapse, he launched 60 guided aerial bombs of mass destruction Up to date. He believes that if the Ukrainian army had more equipment and ammunition, the Battle of Avdiivka would have ended “completely differently”.
in Pokrovsk, alyona sobolenkoreporter KapriA local television channel has just returned from filming the aftermath of a night attack in the nearby town of Selidov. She’s talking to her family about ousting him. But right now, like many citizens of eastern cities, he is waiting to see how the situation evolves. Over the past three months, Pokrovsk has suffered 59 Russian attacksHowever, none in the last two weeks.
In another eastern city, doctors have set up a stabilization point where wounded soldiers are evacuated before being sent to hospital. (They do not want their location revealed.) Most people arrive at night, he says. Mila MakarovaIn charge of evacuation, when it is easier to take them out. Drone warfare has changed the battlefieldThose who run with stretchers or try to take out the wounded are turned into targets, the likes of which have never been seen in the history of war.
drones are responsible 30-40% casualties In this area, according to asan charuhov, head of unit; From just six months ago to now. Three hours later on the night of 16 February, a steady stream of limping people arrived. They say they were pinned down for hours by a mix of drone and mortar attacks, and mention a wounded colleague who died after being hit by two men who tried to get him to safety and He was forced to leave.
According to Major Kudryashov, Ukrainian forces are retreating towards Avdiivka new defensive lines, It is believed that they are being built along the entire front line. But an intelligence source says everything that has been created so far is irregular. “We have suffered casualties”They say, “Due to poor conditions”,
Eight kilometers east of Kupyansk – which the Russians took in February 2022, lost six months later and have been trying to recapture ever since – new defensive lines spread across the fields. There are five lines, whose depth is four kilometers. include Trenches, mines, barbed wire and concrete “dragon teeth”, Pyramidal anti-tank obstacles. Some soldiers appear; Many of them are kept warm in underground bunkers fortified with wood. Outside, the mud is so thick it’s difficult even to walk, let alone dig more hedges.
Making raspberry tea in a room with four bunks that could have been fit for a World War I film set, the men list the battles in which they took part. They also complain of shortage of ammunition. “We can’t last long without help”says a soldier with the callsign Witter. The return route to Kupyansk passes through the ruins of small Petropavlivka, destroyed by guided aerial bombs. “There are no words to describe how tired we are,” says Vitter.
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