"Captives are": in the Armed Forces told whether they really lost up to a thousand soldiers during the exit from Avdiivka
According to the spokesman of the united Press Center of Defense forces of Tavriysk Dmitry Likhovia, the publication of American journalists - misinformation. He reported this during a telecommunication on February 21. He stressed that the publication of the media "unpleasant" because the command gave its comment on this.
"It seemed that everything should take place in its place, but unfortunately, I do not know whether the authors of the New York Times were consciously spread the Russian propaganda narrative without any justification," Dmitry Likhov said. According to Likhovia, the Armed Forces did not hide and did not deny that during the final stage of the Avdi defense operation, a certain part of the fighter did not communicate.
He stressed that some of them can be on the Ukrainian side in good health or wounded, and later they may be in touch with their units. He stressed that stories about hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners in Avdiivka - the continuation of Russian aggression, including fakes and misinformation, which is "not confirmed". Dmitry Likhov said that in 2022, at the exit from Azovstal in Mariupol of Donetsk region, hundreds of fighters were confirmed and filmed on video, nothing like this happened in Avdiivka.
"Yes, there are captives, but their number is not calculated in no case hundreds," Likhov added. According to the New York Times journalists from 850 to a thousand Ukrainian fighters, they could be captured by the Russian Federation during the departure from Avdiivka of Donetsk region. The publication noted that the reason for this was a poorly planned exit, which began too late.