Ukraine admits ‘tactical’ retreat from 3 villages

Ukrainian troops retreated from the villages of Berdychi and Semyonovka, to the northwest of Avdeevka, and from Novomikhailovka, to the southwest of Donetsk, commander-in-chief General Aleksandr Syrsky said on Sunday in a Telegram post.

The outnumbered Ukrainians gave ground to preserve “the lives and health of our defenders”, he added.

“The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhovo directions, where fierce battles continue,” Syrsky said.

“The enemy has engaged up to four brigades in these directions, and is trying to develop an offensive west of Avdeevka and Maryinka, making its way to Pokrovsk and Kurakhovo.”

After capturing the Ukrainian stronghold of Avdeevka in February, Russian units have made steady battlefield gains. They are now firmly in control of the battlefield situation and are steadily pushing back Ukrainian forces, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said last Monday. According to Moscow, Kiev’s forces had lost more than 8,000 soldiers in just the past week.

In recent days, Russian forces also liberated the town of Bogdanovka, located near the strategic town of Chasov Yar in the north of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). Chasov Yar sits on high ground, and taking it would give Russian units a strong vantage point from which to attack other key cities held by the Ukrainians.

The Ukrainian general acknowledged on Sunday that Russian forces are attacking along “the entire front line”, spanning more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles). On Friday he told Western backers that Kiev’s forces face a “difficult operational and strategic situation, which has a tendency to get worse”.

The administration of US President Joe Biden blamed Ukraine’s battlefield setbacks, including the fall of Avdeevka, on opposition from Republican lawmakers, saying their “inaction” led to crippling ammunition shortages. Biden vowed to rush more aid to Kiev after Congress approved $61 billion in additional funding last week.

However, Moscow said that no Western weapons can change the dynamics on the front lines. Some US officials told Politico that the White House is also not convinced that the latest American assistance will be enough for Ukraine to prevail in the conflict against Russia.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has stated Russia must support the current dynamics in the special military operation zone while the panic on the enemy side is growing.

“On the Ukrainian side, the panic is growing on the frontline,” the Kremlin official said in an appearance on the “Moscow.Kremlin.Putin” television program, according to an excerpt posted on journalist Pavel Zarubin’s Telegram channel.

“And this is first-hand information that there, on that side, the panic is growing. It is very important for us now to maintain this dynamics. It is very important not to stop and continue fulfilling [the tasks of the special military operation],” Peskov stressed.

The collective West and Ukraine will try to “play chicken” with Russia but it is important not to succumb, he added.

“It goes without saying that the other side, I mean, ‘the collective West plus one,’ that’s how I would call them, will try to ‘play chicken’ with us. The important thing is for us not to give in,” the Kremlin official continued, commenting on Western missile supplies to Kiev.