“Based on the operational situation around Avdeyevka... I decided to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense,” Syrsky wrote on social media.
Ukrainian news agency UNIAN quoted Alexander Tarnavsky, commander of the Tavriya group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as saying that Ukrainian troops had already left Avdeyevka.
A senior US defense official said on Friday that Ukrainian troops at Avdeyevka were facing severe ammunition shortages, which could herald the collapse of this defensive line to advancing Russian forces.
Avdeyevka is a northern suburb of the city of Donetsk; it was a powerful fortified area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.