"This is war": Syrsky called the number of soldiers who were captured during retreat from Avdiivka
This was stated by the Commander -in -Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Sirsky in an interview with Ukrinform Agency, published on Friday, March 29. He stressed that Ukrainian defenders were forced to retreat from Avdiivka to avoid the environment for several reasons. Among them were the significant advantage of Russian troops, constant bombardment of aviation that violated the integrity of defense, and lack of ammunition.
"The lack of ammunition for our artillery also played a negative role. This did not allow an effective counter -battery in such conditions. So, in order to avoid the environment and save people's lives, I made the decision to leave Avdiivka," Sirsky said. At the same time, according to him, only 25 employees of the Armed Forces were captured during the fighting, not thousands of soldiers, as Russian propaganda says. "Unfortunately, during these battles, 25 Ukrainian servicemen were captured.
These are war . . . Russian propagandists are trying to use various videos with captured Ukrainian warriors to discredit Ukraine's defense forces, psychological pressure and panic spreading among Ukrainians," . At the same time, according to Sirsky, more than 47 thousand people, 364 tanks, 748 armored vehicles, 248 artillery systems and five aircraft from the beginning of the offensive on Avdiivka in October 2023 to 17 February 2024 were lost.
The forces of defense in this direction for the specified period, according to the head, were captured by 95 Russian invaders. We will remind, in its report of March 28 analysts of the Institute of War Study (ISW) noted that in the Avdiivsky direction of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began to use armored vehicles, but already lost several units in battles.