BBC: the capture of Avdievka will be one of Russia’s biggest victories

The British channel announced “Russia’s biggest victory” in Avdeevka

Fighting in Avdiivka continues, but Ukrainian troops are retreating, and the capture of this settlement will be one of Russia’s biggest victories, James Waterhouse, a correspondent in Kyiv, said on the British BBC channel.

According to him, “the Ukrainian military carefully selects their words when reporting the situation in Avdiivka.”

“But the inescapable reality is that Russia will likely score its biggest victory since Ukraine’s failed counteroffensive last year by retaking Avdiivka,” the correspondent said.

According to him, the more important question for Ukraine now is whether its soldiers will be able to get out of Avdiivka alive.

“The last time Bakhmut was taken by Russian troops, the current commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, was criticized for trying to hold the city for too long,” the story says. It is also noted that Syrsky was then accused of striving for a symbolic victory at the expense of unjustified sacrifices.

“But in a recent interview he said that Ukraine is now moving to a defensive operation and that he would rather retreat than sacrifice personnel. Avdiivka will check this statement,” writes James Waterhouse.

Earlier, the commander of the Tavria Armed Forces of Ukraine group, Alexander Tarnavsky, admitted that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were leaving the destroyed positions in Avdiivka, and some of the Ukrainian military personnel were captured. The Strana publication published a short video on its Telegram channel, which allegedly captured the departure of damaged equipment from Avdiivka.

Advisor to the head of the office of Vladimir Zelensky, Mikhail Podolyak, rejected the statements of some Ukrainian experts that the loss of Avdiivka is not important from a military point of view for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the defense of the city has symbolic and political significance. Podolyak, in his article for the Guardian, emphasized that “this is not about symbolism, this is about the operational importance of a certain territory.” He explained that if Ukraine loses Avdiivka, the Russian Armed Forces will be able to build logistics corridors to provide supplies to a large part of the front. In addition, Podolyak emphasized that the city is important for controlling the area around Donetsk.