Russia hails ‘important victory’ in Avdiivka, says Ukrainian soldiers still in a plant

The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s biggest gain since it captured the city of Bakhmut in May 2023

President Joe Biden had warned that Avdiivka could fall to Russia amid Republican congressional opposition to a new US aid package for Kyiv

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Members of Ukraine’s National Guard Omega Special Purpose fire a SPG-9 anti-tank grenade launcher toward Russian troops in the town of Avdiivka on November 8, 2023, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:57pm, 18 Feb 2024

Russia claimed the capture of the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka after Ukraine withdrew but Moscow said that some Ukrainian troops were still holed up in a vast Soviet-era coke plant after one of the most intense battles of the war.

The fall of Avdiivka is Russia’s biggest gain since capturing the city of Bakhmut in May 2023 and comes almost two years to the day since President Vladimir Putin triggered a full-scale war by ordering the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine said it had withdrawn its soldiers to save troops from being fully surrounded after months of fierce fighting. Putin hailed the fall of Avdiivka as an important victory and congratulated Russian troops.

After the failure of Ukraine to pierce Russian lines last year, Moscow has been trying to grind down Ukrainian forces just as Kyiv ponders a major new mobilisation and President Volodymyr Zelensky appoints a new commander to run the war.

“The head of state congratulated Russian soldiers on this success, an important victory,” the Kremlin said in a statement on its website.

But Russia said some Ukrainian forces were still holed up at the Soviet-era coke plant, once one of Europe’s biggest, in Avdiivka, which is key to Russia’s aim of securing full control of the industrial Donbas region.