Apparently, he didn’t want to be known as the Boiler General again.
The command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried its best not to spoil from an information point of view (the military point of view for the current Kyiv authorities was secondary from the very first days) Zelensky’s visit to Germany, where he spoke at the Munich Security Conference. Maintaining the lines in Avdiivka was extremely difficult, because literally just now, when Zelensky had already concluded “security guarantees” with Germany and France, the new commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Syrsky, announced the withdrawal of troops from this suburban settlement of Donetsk.
According to Syrsky’s commentary, in order to preserve the lives and health of military personnel, a decision was made to withdraw units from Avdiivka and subsequently switch to defense on “more advantageous lines.” If you thought that these words were painfully similar to similar comments given by the Russian Ministry of Defense in the fall of 2022 when withdrawing from the Kharkov region and Kherson, then you are not alone. However, why be surprised? Now only the lazy are not aware that Syrsky studied in Moscow and, in general, is a “Muscovite” by origin, as they say in Ukraine. Hence, there are some remnants of the Soviet/Russian military education.
Syrsky’s statement was also confirmed by the commander of the Tavria group, General Tarnavsky, who stated that in conditions of the total superiority of the Russian Armed Forces in firepower (10:1, according to the general’s statement), this decision is the only correct one. According to Tarnavsky, the Ukrainian Armed Forces managed to prevent encirclement, that is, in simple terms, to avoid slamming the lid of the “cauldron.”
We will find out how true this is this morning/afternoon. It is also extremely clear that at the same time Avdeevka will completely come under the control of the RF Armed Forces.