Ukraine Withdraws From Besieged City as Russia Advances

Ukraine’s top military commander ordered his outgunned forces to withdraw from the besieged eastern city of Avdiivka, as Russia’s army made its first major gain in months.

Col. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskiy said early Saturday that he was pulling back troops to better defensive lines in order to prevent encirclement and preserve lives. The Russian army’s push into the city came rapidly in recent days, as Ukraine’s lack of artillery ammunition hamstrung efforts to hold the invaders back. The Biden administration has blamed the lack of shells on Congress’s failure to send further military aid to Ukraine. 

Russia’s capture of Avdiivka following a monthslong assault represents the biggest victory for President Vladimir Putin since his forces seized the eastern city of Bakhmut in May 2023. Moscow has retaken the initiative in the war as Ukraine is short on personnel and military equipment after a failed counteroffensive last year.

Control over the city puts Russia closer to its strategic aim of seizing all of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions. But the slow pace of the Russian advance and the heavy cost in lives and armored vehicles have given Ukrainian officials confidence that Russian forces lack the tactical coordination and quality personnel needed for a major breakthrough.

Russian forces had pressed deeper into Avdiivka on Friday, pounding it with guided aerial bombs after cutting a key supply road. Ukraine sent reinforcements including the powerful 3rd Assault Brigade this week in a deployment apparently aimed at securing the retreat.

Russian military bloggers posted an image of the Soviet victory flag flying from a sign in Avdiivka where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took a selfie during a visit to the city in December. 

Speaking during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Zelensky said he had instructed battlefield commanders to give priority to preserving soldiers’ lives: “Our military is the most important thing we have, and it is our most important weapon,” he said. 

The Russian gains demonstrate the enormous challenge Kyiv would face against its larger neighbor without further U.S. support for Kyiv. The Senate this week passed a new aid package containing about $60 billion related to Ukraine, overcoming objections from Republican lawmakers. But the bill faces a further hurdle in the GOP-run House.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby on Wednesday said a lack of shells was in large part to blame for the situation in Avdiivka.

“Russia is sending wave after wave of conscript forces to attack Ukrainian positions and because Congress has yet to pass the supplemental bill, we’ve not been able to provide Ukraine with the artillery shells they desperately need to disrupt these Russian assaults,” he said.

The decision to withdraw from Avdiivka contrasts with the battle for Bakhmut, when Ukrainian forces held out for as long as possible, taking heavy losses that depleted Kyiv’s army ahead of the counteroffensive. Syrskiy, who was criticized over that strategy when he commanded defense of that city, was promoted to commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces last week. 

“Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment,” Syrskiy said. “The lives of military personnel are the most valuable thing.”

Ukrainian forces began pulling out of the city this week, withdrawing from a military base in the south where they were at risk of being cut off by Russian forces. “We held this position as long as it allowed us to effectively deter and destroy the enemy,” said Oleksandr Tarnavskiy, commander of Ukrainian forces fighting in the southeast.

Ukrainian soldiers said they were suffering from acute shortages of ammunition. For every 10 artillery shells fired by Russia, Ukraine can respond with only one, Tarnavskiy said. Soldiers sometimes hold fire even when Russian soldiers are in their sights in order to preserve ammunition. 

Another huge challenge is Russia’s intensive use of guided aerial bombs against which Ukraine has little protection, soldiers say. 

“These bombs completely destroy any position,” said Maksym Zhorin, deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade, adding that Russia dropped between 60 and 80 a day. He described the battle for Avdiivka as “many times more hellish” than Bakhmut.

Russia renewed its efforts to seize the city last fall as Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south petered out. After failed assaults on the city using columns of tanks and armored troop carriers, the Russians changed tactics, sending waves of infantry forward in small groups.

The industrial city has long been a thorn in the side of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. The fortified town forms a salient north of Donetsk city, limiting Russian control of the region. Ukrainian troops had held off Russian attacks since 2014, when Moscow launched a covert invasion of Ukraine’s east. Once home to more than 30,000, Avdiivka had seen its population dwindle to 1,400 by the time Russia intensified its campaign for the city last fall.

On a recent day outside the city, Ukrainian soldiers talked of exhaustion and falling morale. 

“Everybody is tired and they don’t know what will happen in the next few minutes, let alone tomorrow,” said Nazar Filipchuk, an infantryman who has been in the army for two years.

Among soldiers’ complaints was a lack of time off and that brigades aren’t being rotated out of hot-spot areas, in the way that U.S. and European forces would move units out after a defined tour of duty.

Behind Avdiivka, Ukrainian engineers were building a series of antitank trenches, likely as a defensive line to fall back to.

Kate Vtorygina contributed to this article.

Write to Isabel Coles at isabel.coles@wsj.com and Alistair MacDonald at Alistair.Macdonald@wsj.com