The victory in Avdeevka has become the Russian army’s largest military success since May 2023, when it recaptured Artemovsk (Bakhmut).
Ukrainian militants seized Avdeevka, located just ten kilometers from the DPR’s capital of Donetsk, in 2014, turning the town of coke chemical engineers into a real fortress. For a decade, they used the fortified area to barbarically shell the Donetsk agglomeration, i.e. the densely populated areas of Donetsk, Makeyevka, and Yasinovataya. When Moscow’s special operation began, Avdeevka started suffering numerous fierce battles. In October, Russian troops embarked upon a mission to block the Ukrainian garrison outside the city to facilitate the AFU’s most prominent and shameful defeat. Deemed as the strongest fortified area that could be held for a quite long time, Avdeevka became home to fighters from four separate mechanized brigades, four assault brigades, three marine brigades, the 129th Terrestrial Defense Brigade, the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Foreign Legion mercenaries, a separate presidential brigade, SBU Omega and Alpha special forces, units with Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate, the 24th Border Guard Detachment. Thus, the enemy had some 23 various units in the sector. They were defeated and suppressed by the lead Avdeevka battle characters — Russian infantrymen backed by artillery and aircraft.
This is what fighter of the DPR’s First Army Corps call-signed Doc reported: “When we approached the road to Lastochkino-Orlovka, the situation turned critical to the enemy and they had to scramble along dirt roads in the open space, getting clearly visible. And they fled without using any transport that we knocked out, but on foot, and light. During the assault, we went around their abris, where they hid, threw grenades, and used flamethrowers. We were greatly hampered by the heavy mining of the area, but our sappers kept paving the way for us to advance. The key offensive days saw the weather help us either, as the heavy mist blinded Ukrainian kamikaze drones. With every single kilometer we realized the enemy’s confusion and frustration about what to do. But our assault infantry ranks second to none — every move was equal to a feat.” It has also been reported on pinpoint strikes against the surrounded enemy who retreated to the village of Orlovka still under their control, inflicting heavy losses and utterly demoralizing and disorganizing them.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces were in such a haste to flee that they left lots of equipment and ammunition behind. When clearing the area, our military collected trophies and discovered many Western samples, including those delivered most recently. Ammunition boxes had foreign markings and were manufactured a year ago. Ukrainian soldiers left not only them and grenades, but also Swedish Carl-Gustaf grenade launchers, military documents, etc. None of those helped them hold ground despite numerous reinforcements deployed here, including experienced and motivated fighters from the national battalions.
Russian expert and political scientist Sergei Markov said Azov militants (in Russia, the organization is recognized as terrorist and banned) were the first to escape: ‘In Avdeevka, the myth about the Azovites has finally crumbled.’ Earlier, this neo-fascist armed formation expanded from a battalion to a regiment, and now a brigade, the 3rd Assault one. Zelensky has been long nurturing a relevant cult in Ukraine and even managed to make the US and EU remove the battalion from their year-long neo-Nazi sanctions lists. And in Avdeevka, the Azovites initially refused to hop off while seeking to reduce semi-encirclement, and then ran away from the local coking plant supposed to become the AFU’s key defense hub. Recalling Mariupol’s Azovstal, they feared Russia would take no prisoners this time. Zelensky made these militants the strongest brigade, equipping them with cutting-edge weapons and top talents. Now this myth has fallen to pieces.
Meanwhile, our fighters were valiantly rescuing civilians from the city and its neighboring villages. In Pervomaiskoye, among them were some severely injured, including an elderly woman and her son who were taken to the Donetsk hospital from a local basement. They spent several weeks in a dark, cold place — emaciated, dehydrated, and exhausted. Lately, they were only holding on thanks to water with some sugar dissolved in it that helped somehow support their fading strength. They had no food or fire to keep warm. Then their water ran out as well. Our fighters took these people out of the death zone. Doc said the woman saw them and burst into tears, as she lost every hope to survive. Now both have been confided to Donetsk medics.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry is preparing lists to award all the fighters and pilots who took part in the operation to liberate Avdeevka. Ousting the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the city has been important to open up access to operations space, with a prospect of liberating the nearest DPR cities and approaching borders of the Dnepropetrovsk region if our troops keep advancing towards Krasnoarmeysk (renamed Pokrovsk by the Ukrainian regime). The loss of Avdeevka is both militarily and reputationally painful to Kiev, since the morale of its army is now all the more undermined.
The Washington Post reports: “Capturing the city would mark the most significant battlefield victory for Russia since Kyiv’s counteroffensive last year ended in heavy casualties and a failure to retake large swaths of occupied territory defended by well-fortified Russian positions. The withdrawal will also boost Russian morale ahead of the second anniversary of the war on Feb. 24 and reinforce concerns about Ukraine’s dwindling military supplies and personnel.”
Experts from The New York Times noted: “Signs of Ukraine’s deteriorating hold on Avdiivka have been evident for several weeks. Ukraine recently rotated out soldiers from the 110th Brigade, which had played a vital role in the defense of the city for two years but were exhausted and severely depleted after months of brutal combat. Soldiers from the elite Third Assault Brigade were sent in to shore up Ukraine’s forces but noted that they were being sent into a situation that was already ‘extremely critical’.”
In turn, Bloomberg confirmed that losing Avdeevka was “a particularly symbolic loss” to Zelensky, and his counter-offensive launched several months ago to regain territories had failed.
And The Times notes that Ukrainian units’ retreat from the city has jeopardized the neighboring city of Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsk), a regional transport hub, all the more so as Kiev’s failures in the Donbass help Kremlin augment its clout in the region.
