Russian army would likely struggle to advance west of Avdiivka - ISW

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said this in its latest report, according to Ukrinform.

“Russian forces would likely struggle to advance west of Avdiivka towards secondary prepared positions to which Ukrainian forces are withdrawing and would likely suffer considerable losses if they decided to frontally attack these Ukrainian positions across open fields,” the report reads.

 “Russian forces likely aim to complicate or prevent the Ukrainian withdrawal in hopes of inflicting operationally significant losses on Ukrainian forces in the area, since the capture of Avdiivka itself would not offer any operationally significant benefits or avenues for operationally significant advances,” the report reads.

According to ISW, Ukrainian forces may have to conduct counterattacks to conduct an orderly withdrawal from Avdiivka, and Russian efforts to complicate or prevent a Ukrainian withdrawal may become increasingly attritional. 

“Ukrainian forces may have to stabilize the frontline by counterattacking in the area where Russian forces are trying to close the encirclement of Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka in order to conduct an orderly withdrawal,” said ISW experts.

As reported by Ukrinform, on February 17, according to the order received, the Ukrainian defenders of Avdiivka left the city for pre-prepared positions.