Russia captures Avdiivka after Ukraine withdraws from key eastern town

AVDIIVKA: Following Ukraine's withdrawal of troops from the key eastern town of Avdiivka, Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed his army's capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka as an "important victory", as reported by Al Jazeera. Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu informed Putin about the seizure of the front-line town in a meeting at the Kremlin on Saturday, his ministry said in a statement. Avdiivka was a "powerful defensive hub" for Ukraine's armed forces and its capture would "move the front line away from Donetsk (city)," reducing Ukraine's ability to shell the Russian stronghold, the defence ministry said. "The President congratulated our military and fighters on such an important victory, on such a success," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The new army chief announced that Ukrainian troops have been withdrawn from Avdiivka after months of heavy fighting and little progress in repelling Russian forces on the country's eastern front, Al Jazeera reported.

"I decided to withdraw our units from the town and move to defence from more favourable lines in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen," Oleksandr Syrskii said on Saturday.

The town, which had become one of the most fiercely contested battlegrounds on the eastern front, witnessed an escalation of Moscow's attacks, including airstrikes, artillery bombardment, and ground assaults by armoured vehicles and soldiers, CNN reported on Saturday. In this two-year war, the battle for the industrial hub, less than 10 km (six miles) north of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk has been one of the bloodiest,

according to Al Jazeera. Meanwhile, many compare it with the battle for Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers were killed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that pulling out troops "was a professional decision that will save many Ukrainian lives." "Our actions are limited only by the sufficiency and length of range of our strength," he added, highlighting the situation in Avdiivka.