Outmanned and outgunned, Ukraine retreats from key town on front lines

Russian military officials say they have established near-total control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Avdiivka after an intense and lengthy battle, pushing Ukrainian forces back several miles along what had long been a frozen front line.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued an impassioned plea over the weekend for increased international aid in the wake of one of Russia’s biggest military successes in months, while Russian President Vladimir Putin issued a message of congratulations to the troops.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russian forces were still dealing with small pockets of resistance at the giant Soviet-era chemical plant in the city, the Associated Press reported. Videos on social media Saturday appeared to show soldiers raising the Russian flag over one facility at the plant.

After a fierce battle trying to hold the town, Ukrainian commanders said they were pulling back to avoid having their remaining forces surrounded by the Russian advance. The Kremlin said Sunday that Russian troops had advanced another five miles after taking the city.

Mr. Zelenskyy, addressing Vice President Kamala Harris and other international delegates at the Munich Security Conference over the weekend, said the uncertain and dwindling level of Western support for Ukraine’s outnumbered and outgunned forces was beginning to tell, creating an “artificial deficit of arms” that Russian commanders were exploiting.

“Our actions are limited only by the sufficiency and length of the range of our strength — by what does not depend on us,” Mr. Zelenskyy said. “And the Avdiivka situation proves this exactly.”

Mr. Zelenskyy and President Biden spoke by phone Saturday, with the U.S. president saying he remained confident Congress would eventually pass a $60 billion military aid package for Kyiv that has stalled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

But Mr. Biden acknowledged the support may not come in time to prevent more Ukrainian territorial losses on the battlefield in the nearly two-year-old war. The White House readout of the Zelenskyy call Saturday noted that Ukrainian troops “had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction.”

The Kremlin, whose hopes for a quick victory at the start of the invasion in February 2022 have been shattered by repeated battlefield defeats, was quick to highlight the victory, which comes as military experts say Russian forces appear to have regrouped and taken the initiative on the long front line spanning eastern and southern Ukraine.

Mr. Putin, his spokesman made a point of telling reporters, was given a 4 a.m. Sunday morning briefing by top commanders on the fall of the city, followed by a second briefing seven hours later.

“At that time, the enemy started a mass rout from Avdiivka and abandoned its combat positions,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recounted for reporters in Moscow. “It took a few more hours for our fighters to start mopping up the city.”

Ukraine’s military said it had pushed back a separate Russian attack in the heavily contested Zaporizhzhia region, claiming three Russian tanks had been destroyed and the attackers pushed back to their original positions. Like many of the claims from both sides in the war, Kyiv’s account could not be immediately verified.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said accounts from both sides appeared to confirm that munitions, air defense and other shortages have had a noticeable effect on Ukraine’s armed forces.

“Russian forces appear to have temporarily established limited and localized air superiority and were able to provide ground troops with close air support during the final days of their offensive operation to capture Avdiivka, likely the first time that Russian forces have done so in Ukraine,” the think tank noted in an analysis Saturday.

“Limited effective air defense systems, dwindling air defense missiles stocks and continued Russian missile and drone strikes against rear population centers are likely forcing [Ukrainian officials] to make difficult choices about what areas of the front line receive air defense coverage.”

The loss of Avdiivka, which had a population of 30,000 before the war and sits just a few miles from the Russian-occupied provincial capital of Donetsk, is a blow to Kyiv, which invested significant troops and materiel to holding the city that could now serve as a key logistical link for Russia’s military.

In Washington, the House last week recessed until Feb. 28 with the fate of the Ukrainian aid package still undecided. House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing pressure from all sides and has no clear way forward.

Former GOP Rep. Lix Cheney, who lost her Wyoming House seat over her outspoken opposition to former President Trump, said Sunday Mr. Johnson should push through the needed money for Kyiv even if it costs the Louisiana speaker his gavel fewer than four months into the job.

“He ought to understand that it is worth it if he has to lose his speakership in order to make sure that freedom survives, in order to make sure that the United States of America continues to play its leadership role in the world,” Ms. Cheney said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

— Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this article, which was based in part on wire service reports.