“If they don’t send us ammunition, Ukraine will lose this war”

The city of Avdiivka burned like a pyre seen from miles away. While it was burning in its ashes, a Ukrainian artillery battery began firing on the Russians who were already occupying their buildings.is available. After 10 years of fighting, Its ruins have fallen into the hands of the Kremlin,

Z troops, after months of bloody and unsuccessful attacks against the city, in which They have lost 250 battle tanks and over 1,000 armored vehicles By all accounts, they have acquired the valuable trophy that Putin craved, completely destroying a population of about 37,000 inhabitants that had little strategic value but great political value for Moscow. Avdiivka is the golden bell for the presidential candidate Vladimir Putin Offers its voters pre-determined polls.

It’s been a busy day all around Avdivka. Several Ukrainian brigades began to withdraw on the night of Friday to Saturday, under the orders of Alexander Sirsky, the new commander-in-chief had, above all, to take advantage of the darkness and take out his armored materials. Then a day dawned, cold as a knife’s edge but clear and bright, the ideal sky for the flying of drones, masters of the battlefield at this stage of the war. “There are many people flying above us. “They are also attacking civilian cars.”A Ukrainian soldier was identified from his refuge in connection with this reporter.

Advancing on carpets of the corpses of their own comrades, Z troops managed to advance east and west in two simultaneously without success after trying to do so through their industrial area for months. This victory, although unexpected, was influenced by two factors: the extensive involvement of Russian aviation, which launched about 80 guided bombs a day to destroy every building in the city, and Lack of ammunition on the Ukrainian side, The appetite for projectiles is such that they are launched only when absolutely necessary. Ukraine has been left without counterbattery fire (one of its characteristics) due to the lack of 152 and 155 mm heavy artillery. Under these circumstances, and when the Russians outnumbered the Ukrainians by seven soldiers, the question was not whether Avdiivka was going to fall, but when. If there are no plans to get the West’s munitions factories running at full capacity any time soon and there are no other plans to supply Kiev, “Ukraine will lose this war” says another of the soldiers we passed.

The evacuation route chosen was one that connected the secondary routes to Avdiivka, which had not yet been cut by the Russians, with the village of Ochertyn, where ambulances were carrying the dead and wounded. On the same road, vehicles hit by shrapnel could be seen, some of them with broken windows, but ultimately loaded with safe and sound soldiers.

The same could be said about tanks and armored vehicles, most of which were already outside the Russian encirclement. A nurse in Hrodivka admitted that she had evacuated many wounded, but some people were still in the coke plant in the middle of the industrial zone when the Russians had already closed the siege. Of the 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers fighting inside the pocket, The vast majority managed to leave in an orderly mannerHowever the Russians reported that they had captured prisoners. Ukraine has also claimed some valuable pieces: today alone its batteries shot down three Russian fighter-bombers that were harassing the troops in their withdrawal.

“It was a mistake. We should have withdrawn a long time ago,” A sergeant from the so-called Presidential Brigade commented to this newspaper while sipping coffee in a secure area. General Alexander Sirsky was widely criticized for not agreeing to a prompt withdrawal to the city of Bakhmut a year earlier, when the casualty ratio in relation to Wagner’s mercenaries was still smiling at him, risking the lives of his troops. Had to pay a high price. His decision in this matter has been contrary, “To protect the lives of our soldiers”, As he wrote in a text published on the social network this morning.

A Ukrainian army communications officer warned us: “We are listening to the Russians’ conversations and we know that They have deployed their snipers All over the road. Don’t think about continuing on this route, but if you do, wear a vest and helmet.”

The shortage of ammunition, which will not be resolved for at least a month, when the ammunition promised these days by France and Germany begins to arrive, could have an impact on the Ukrainian defenders, who have hundreds of tanks. And the guns are off because they have nothing to do. Do it with them. Use them. This reporter visited a unit of Soviet-origin Grad rocket launchers, which entered service in 1969. They launched only two missiles out of 40 that could fire, although they sounded like thunder in the Donbass night. Artillery shells deafen them. “In Europe and America they should know that wars are not won by this alone.”a Ukrainian soldier told this reporter, waving his old AK47.

To ensure that escape routes were not closed, Ukraine deployed the 3rd Azov Assault Brigade, one of the most experienced in its army. At Hrodivka their troops gathered around their commander, who gave them final orders before walking the last kilometers of their journey towards the Avdiivka volcano. Some of the attendees were Azovstal veteransAs he admitted, he voluntarily readmitted after his imprisonment in Russia.

A platoon of soldiers, most of whom were veterans, were trying to get something to eat at the only open bar. Many of them were above 50 years of age. His destination was also Avdivka. It was easy to distinguish those who came for refreshments (clean hands, mud-free uniforms, washed faces) from those who left, with their blackened nails and smoke-stained faces. To cap a dark day for Ukraine, Russia once again bombarded civilian areas in Donbass with a dozen S300 missiles, leaving the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk half-empty and being punished by Putin. This is Russia’s way of slowly weakening Ukraine’s morale.

Ukraine’s second major mobilization, which has already been approved by its parliament, will still take time to get new recruits to their defense posts due to the required two months of training. Until that moment comes, Kiev will have to endure a difficult journey through the desert. Russia has lost thousands of lives on the way to conquering the ruins, but it also has an advantage: Putin doesn’t care about this.