Avdiivka Map Reveals Scale of Russian Advance

Russia’s forces have solidified their hold on territory in the captured city of Avdiivka, Moscow said on Monday, as a new map shows the latest Russian advances through the former Ukrainian stronghold in eastern Ukraine.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Monday that its forces had taken complete control of the Avdiivka coking plant in the northwest of the city. Its troops had raised Russian flags in the facility’s administrative buildings, Moscow said in a statement.

In a separate update, the Kremlin said Russian troops were now clearing mines throughout Avdiivka. A new map, published by the conflict tracking account, War Mapper, on Monday, shows Moscow’s pushes from the northwest of Avdiivka down through the city, and advances up from the south of the settlement. Newsweek has reached out to the Ukrainian military and Russian Defense Ministry for comment via email.

Russia had said on Sunday that it had completely liberated the embattled city of Avdiivka the previous day, after more than four months of fierce clashes around the heavily fortified Donetsk settlement. Avdiivka became known as a “meat grinder,” a term used to describe prolonged battles that rack up high casualty counts and absorb significant resources.

The fall of Avdiivka is a strategic and symbolic victory for Moscow, and the first major win for Russia since it took the Donetsk city of Bakhmut in May 2023. The city spent a decade on the frontlines, a Ukrainian-held chunk of territory sticking out into Russian-controlled areas along the front lines.

Ukraine’s army chief, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, said on Saturday that Kyiv’s forces had retreated from Avdiivka to avoid encirclement and save the lives of its fighters. Russia had been slowly advancing around the small city since October, but Ukraine had managed to keep a vital supply route from the west of Avdiivka in play.

“Our soldiers honorably fulfilled their military duty, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, [and] inflicted significant losses on the enemy in manpower and equipment,” Syrsky said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces will likely move to establish new defensive lines west of Avdiivka, bringing Russia’s push in the area to an end, the independent U.S.-based think tank, the Institute for the Study of War, said on Sunday. Russia’s forces will be “degraded” by months of attacks on Avdiivka, whereas newly arrived Ukrainian units will likely be able to hold these new lines of defense west of the settlement, the think tank added.

Russia has paid a heavy price to take Avdiivka, sustaining huge casualty counts and losing hundreds of its military vehicles.

From October 10, 2023, to February 17, 2024, Moscow’s forces lost 47,186 troops, 364 tanks and 748 armored fighting vehicles during its offensive on Avdiivka, Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavsky, the commander of Ukraine’s Tavria grouping of forces covering Avdiivka, said on Sunday.

Russian forces lost 248 artillery systems and five jets in the more than four months of bitter clashes around Avdiivka, Tarnavsky added.

Newsweek could not independently verify these figures, and the Russian Defense Ministry did not respond to a written request for comment on Sunday.

However, the Ukrainian tally offers an indication of the toll of the long-running assault on Avdiivka. The British Defense Ministry assessed on Friday that Russia had lost at least 400 tanks and infantry fighting vehicles in and around the city.

Ukraine’s military did not mention Avdiivka on Monday, saying its fighters had repelled five Russian attacks along the front line west of Avdiivka, from Novobakhmutivka, north of Avdiivka, to Pervomaiske, southwest of the settlement.