Feb 17, 2024
Western allies bear responsibility for Ukraine’s withdrawal from the embattled city of Avdiivka, one NATO foreign minister has said, as Ukrainian commanders blame a severe ammunition drought for Kyiv’s most-significant battlefield loss since Bakhmut was abandoned in summer 2023.
“All the countries have this responsibility,” Margus Tsakhna told Newsweek on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Friday. The minister had been asked whether the slow or frozen delivery of U.S. and allied munitions was to blame for the gradual and costly Ukrainian retreats in the devastated settlement.
Newsweek spoke with Tsakhna as reports began emerging that Ukraine’s years-long defense of the city was turning into a withdrawal under intense Russian pressure. This was confirmed early on Saturday by Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrsky, who said the order was given “to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen.”
Kyiv’s forces, Syrsky said, will “move to defense on more favorable lines.” The commander added: “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.”
Ukrainian forces have been dug in around Avdiivka since 2014, fighting first Moscow-controlled separatist forces, and later Russian regular formations. The fortress city has been a focus of fighting throughout Russia’s two-year full-scale invasion, and at the heart of Moscow’s ongoing winter offensive campaign.
Kyiv’s units have been outgunned throughout, partially due to the slow arrival of artillery shells committed by the European Union and the freeze in U.S. military aid precipitated by partisan conflict in Congress.
“The EU promised 1 million rounds of ammunition—it was an Estonian initiative—for this March,” Tsakhna said. “We have done half of that. A good thing is that now all the EU countries gave the commitments that it will happen during the next half-a-year, up to the end of this year,” the foreign minister added, noting the goal is now 1.1 million shells. “But it’s too slow,” Tsakhna said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky noted the lack of weapons when he addressed the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning. “Keeping Ukraine in the artificial deficits of weapons, particularly in a deficit of artillery and long-range capabilities, allows [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war,” he said.
The withdrawal from Avdiivka, Zelensky added, was intended to “save our soldiers’ lives.” He added: “Please do not ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself why Putin is still able to continue it.”
https://www.newsweek.com/us-responsible-ukraine-defeat-avdiivka-nato-1870906
Looking at all the facts and figures, it is indeed our fault that Avdiivka was lost. With “we” I mean the collective West. Everyone acted in weak, slow, and stupid manner. It’s not only that Avdiivka could’ve been kept, but this entire war could already be over if the allies would act like allies, and not like scared school girls.
That’s the ugly truth. And I do think that European heads of state should publicly point fingers at the Republicans in the House, holding them responsible for the evil dictatorship of Putin, with its anti-freedom and anti-democracy ideology, gaining momentum in the war. With such an attitude in the 1940s, WWII would have been lost!
Americans should be asked: On which side are you on, the defenders of American ideals, who fought bravely against the Nazis and Japanese Imperialists, or the appeasenicks and extremists, who allow evil to grow all around the globe?
The big majority of Americans could answer this question quite easily if they weren’t so lazy to think for themselves.
“ISW: Russia could replicate Avdiivka’s capture tactics if West continues to delay aid”
https://kyivindependent.com/isw-russia-could-replicate-avdiivkas-capture-if-west-continues-to-delay-aid/
That’s a no-brainer. As long as mafia land has enough meat to burn, it will keep the blaze burning.
Right, Mr. Ofp. And that’s why retreats are not a solution and should only be done when a position has become impossible to efficiently defend any longer. Because the Russians will simply move on to beleaguer a new hotspot. In the long run, retreating is the march into defeat, that’s obvious.
That’s why the country needs massively more weapons and ammo. I don’t understand the forever coward called Scholz, in this regard. Furthermore, the West MUST give Ukraine permission to attack mafia land itself. Not allowing this is so stupid that it’s impossible for a sane mind to comprehend. Ukraine might not have much of a choice but to go around the massive defensive lines, meaning into mafia land itself, to encircle the mafia army.