AFTER VICTORY IN AVDEEVKA RUSSIAN ARMY ADVANCES IN ALL DIRECTIONS

The winter offensive of the Russian army has already brought a great victory – control over one of the largest Ukrainian strongholds in Donbass, the industrial city of Avdiivka. Kiev admitted its defeat. he order to retreat from the city was not an attempt to save lives of Ukrainian servicemen but rather a bureaucratic fiction. In fact, Ukrainian units have been abandoning their positions, fleeing en masse from the city for several days. Having lost control of the situation, the Ukrainian command was unable to organize a safe retreat from the almost surrounded city. This was likely the first time such a chaotic and panicked escape happened from a heavily fortified stronghold of the Ukrainian army. On the morning of February 19, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially confirmed the completion of the mop up operation at the Coke Plant, where the fighters of the former Azov National Battalion were hiding. As of today, there are no Ukrainian military personnel left on the territory of the enterprise. Russian engineering units are starting to demine the city which is covered with the corpses of dead Ukrainian servicemen. The loss of Avdiivka has jeopardized the Ukrainian defense in the entire Donetsk direction, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces lack sufficiently fortified positions on new lines of defense. Ukrainian military resources are sounding the alarm. The new commander-in-chief, fearing a collapse of the front, is reportedly hastily transferring reserves to the area, including units that are defending the capital Kiev. However, this does not stop the Russian advance. Battles have already reached Lastochkino. The village is already in the gray zone, and according to preliminary reports, the Russians are close to taking full control over it. Ukrainian units continue to retreat to the west, where they are hastily equipping a new line of defense in Orlovka. Amid the victory in Avdiivka, Russian troops continue offensive operations on all fronts, destroying Ukrainian reserves with precision strikes in the rear areas. As a result, the Ukrainian command is forced to stretch its forces along the frontlines. It cannot concentrate a large group of forces in some areas without knowing the direction of a new Russian main attack. On the second day of the offensive on the Zaporozhye front, the Russian military had already launched an assault on Rabotino from the southern and western outskirts, having previously expanded the control zone around the village. In the area of Artemovsk, Russian aviation and artillery are pounding Chasov Yar, preparing for an assault. Fighting is already underway in the partially surrounded Ivanovo. In the south Donetsk direction, Russian forces are advancing in Novomikhailovka, while on the northern fronts of Donbass, the Russians approach the important Ukrainian stronghold in Terny. Thus, any maneuver by Ukrainian reserves can lead to a Russian breakthrough in any direction.