ISW suggest that Ukrainian units are currently "conducting a relatively controlled withdrawal" from Avdiivka.
Analysts analyzed the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on the night of February 17 that he ordered the Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka to withdraw to more advantageous defensive positions in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives of Ukrainian servicemen.
Russian sources claim that Ukrainian troops are withdrawing en masse, and that the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops is becoming increasingly chaotic and costly.
However, ISW did not observe any visual evidence of a mass or chaotic withdrawal of Ukrainian forces, and the continued slight advance of Russian forces in and around Avdiivka suggests that Ukrainian forces are currently conducting a relatively controlled withdrawal from the settlement.
Also, Russian sources claim that Russian troops have also advanced in the east of Avdiivka to the southwestern outskirts of Avdiivka, further south along Hrushevsky Street and west of Avdiivka in the direction of the dirt roads that Ukrainian troops use to supply positions in the east and south of Avdiivka.
Russian sources claimed that the invaders were close to encircling the remaining Ukrainian forces in the central, eastern and southern parts of Avdiivka, and one Russian blogger claimed that a little more than a kilometer separated Russian positions on the western outskirts of Avdiivka from Russian positions in the south of Avdiivka, analysts said.
ISW currently estimates that approximately three and a half kilometers separate Russian positions in these two areas, based on available visual evidence.
Experts suggest that Ukrainian forces may have to launch counterattacks to effect an orderly exit from Avdiivka, and Russian efforts to complicate or prevent the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces could become quite exhausting.
The situation in Avdiivka
We will remind that as of 21:00 on February 16, heavy fighting continued in the city. The enemy threw all reserves at the assault, throwing them from other directions, and tried to push through the Ukrainian defense.
Since the beginning of the day, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have repelled more than 30 Russian attacks in the Avdiivka area. The aggressor carried out 20 airstrikes and more than one and a half hundred artillery shells.
Tarnavsky reported that during one of the exits to new positions, several Ukrainian soldiers were captured.
From February 1 to 15, Russian losses in the Avdiiv direction amounted to 20,018 people, 199 tanks and 481 armored fighting vehicles.
Currently, Ukrainian units are being withdrawn from the city of Avdiyivka and transferred to the defense on more favorable lines in order to preserve the lives of fighters. This decision was made by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi.
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