Ukraine withdraws forces from Avdiivka, hours after signing French security deal
Smoke rises from Avdiivka as Zelensky and Macron sign deal.
Ukraine's General Oleksandr Tarnavsky early on Saturday (Feb 17) said that the Ukrainian forces withdrew from the eastern town of Avdiivka, where the situation had considerably deteriorated in the past few days. The step was taken by Ukraine, hours after it signed the French security deal.
"Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defence on more favourable lines," said Tarnavsky, on Telegram.
"In a situation where the enemy is advancing over the corpses of their own soldiers with a ten-to-one shelling advantage, under constant bombardment, this is the only right decision. Encirclement was prevented, personnel were withdrawn, and our soldiers took up defence at the designated lines,” he added.
Avdiivka, which is a gateway to Donetsk,a city seized by Russia, has been completely destroyed after seeing fierce fighting in recent months.
Also Read:Ukraine says reinforcing troops in embattled eastern town of Avdiivka as Russia steps up attacks
Since 2014, it became a battlefield town after large swathes of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions were seized by the Russian-backed fighters.
The fall of Avdiivka marks the most significant change in the front line since Russia seized Bakhmut in May 2023. On February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine.
This was also the first major decision taken by Ukraine's new military chief Oleksandr Syrsky after being appointed on February 8. Syrsky said that the troops were withdrawn to preserve the lives of soldiers and stop their encirclement.
"I decided to withdraw our units from the city and switch to defence on more favourable lines,” said Syrsky on Facebook. "Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units and inflicted significant losses on the enemy," he added.
Zelensky signs French security deal
UkrainianPresident Volodymyr Zelensky and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday (Feb 16) signed a security pact at the Elysee palace, hours after signing a similar deal with Germany, which was hailed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz as a "historic step" to confirm the country's support to Kyiv in the battle against Russia.
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The agreement with France includes a French pledge to provide Ukraine with up to €3 billion ($3.2 billion) in aid for 2024, as perofficials. The pact is likely to go on for 10 years and will strengthen co-operation between the two countries in the area of artillery.
As perofficials, the deal is aimed at helping Ukraine with the "re-establishment of its territorial integrity within its internationally-recognised borders", and forestall "any renewed Russian aggression".
"France affirms that a future Ukrainian membership would constitute a useful contribution to peace and stability in Europe," the officials said, quoting the agreement.
(With inputs from agencies)
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