Russia suffered huge losses in the battle for the strategic town of Avdiivka before ultimately capturing it.
The battle for Avdiivka, in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, intensified in October and was a key target for the Russian military.
Oleksandr Syrskyi, the commander in chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook that he had decided to pull out of the region “to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen.”
On February 17, Russia said they had taken “full control” of Avdiivka, and videos emerged of Russian flags being planted across the city.
However, Russia paid a heavy price for the victory.
Russia lost more than 400 tanks and armored vehicles and “likely thousands of personnel,” per the UK Ministry of Defense.
‘Meat wave’ assaults
Ukraine claims more than 17,000 Russian soldiers were killed, capturing Avdiivka.
“The losses of Russians around Avdiivka are colossal. My colleagues and I did the calculations and pulled up our archival records from the beginning of the year,” said Dmitry Likhovy, Ukrainian military spokesman.
He also said that at least 30,000 Russian soldiers had been injured in the battle, per The Telegraph.
The Ukrainian figures could not be verified, but the Kremlin’s willingness to sacrifice men and equipment in infamous ‘meat wave’ assaults, leaving the Avdiivka battlefield littered with frozen Russian corpses, has been widely reported.
47th Separate Mechanized Brigade
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian figures are in line with Western estimates. A declassified American intelligence assessment in December spoke of staggeringly high Russian losses.
Russia has suffered more than 13,000 troops killed and wounded and lost more than 220 combat vehicles while fighting near Avdiivka and other cities, Adrienne Watson, a spokeswoman for the National Security Council, said, per The New York Times.
The fighting for Avdiivka only became more ferocious in the two months after the US report became public.
The White House had warned on Thursday that Russia could take the town, blaming a lack of artillery ammunition caused in part by Republicans blocking more aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russia pummelled the outnumbered Ukrainian forces with artillery and hundreds of gliding bombs.
There are no figures on the losses Ukraine has suffered in the bloody battle, though they to could also be significant.
Avdiivka, which was once home to 32,000 residents, was the site of a battle against pro-Russian separatists in 2017, part of the war in Donbas, and has been on the frontline of the fighting since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
