Why Avdiivka fell to Russia

Guided aerial bombs that Ukraine can't counter, overwhelming troop and artillery power, and an element of surprise were behind Russia's rapid overtaking of Avdiivka The post Why Avdiivka fell to Russia appeared first on Euromaidan Press.

Feb 18, 2024 - 23:36

Ukrainian troops are retreating from the embattled city of Avdiivka, which Ukrainian troops have defended since 2014. In the last few weeks, the situation rapidly became critical, and Ukrainian troops were nearly encircled.

But until mid-January 2024, the frontline stayed relatively stable, as Ukrainian troops resisted Russian assaults from well-established defensive positions.

Ukraine deployed reinforcements to Avdiivka to organize a retreat

As Russians advanced in a pincer movement on the Ukrainian garrison, the elite Third Assault Brigade was deployed to reinforce the troops, as well as Ukrainian GUR units and the Alpha unit of the SBU.

This led to widespread social media speculation that Ukraine would engage in a months-long defense of Avdiivka, repeating the screenplay of the 10-month-long disputed operation to defend Bakhmut, where Ukrainian troops had destroyed much of Russia’s formidable Wagner PMC, albeit at a heavy cost.

However, the real reason for their deployment was to cover the retreat of the units defending Avdiivka: the 47th and 110th brigades, as the Russians encroached on a logistics lifeline to the city.

“While our fighters retreat, the enemy does not stop attacking; it needs to be restrained by someone. Fresh forces provided us with time to withdraw and, moreover, continued to inflict significant losses on the enemy,” military expert Oleksandr Museinko told RBC.

Inside the city, the Third Assault Brigade pushed back Russian troops from this main supply road, being extremely outnumbered at a ratio of 7:1.

If in Bakhmut, the Russian attackers were a mix of Wagner convicts and special forces, in Avdiivka, the Russian contingent was the “best strike fist of Russian Federation in Ukraine,” consisting of GRU units and Mechanized brigades, the spokesman of the Third Assault Brigade Borodin said, stating that some units were repelling attacks 360 degrees around them.

The main problem was a barrage of guided aerial bombs. Sent by Russian jets far beyond the frontline, beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defense, the powerful bombs reduced buildings to rubbish, forcing Ukrainian units to retreat.

Additionally, Russians launched phosphorous shells at fuel tanks at the Avdiivka Coke Plant, setting them on fire and creating poisonous smog.