The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Syrsky announced on the 17th that the Ukrainian army will withdraw from the eastern defensive town of Avdeyevka. Now, we have seen many reports of Ukrainian troops being hit by Russian fire when they retreated.
It can be said that Avdeyevka is the longest-lasting "Russian meat grinder" in the two years of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and the third meat grinder.
The first was Mariupol, a few months before the start of the war. Almost all of the nearly 20,000 troops of the Ukrainian army were annihilated, and nearly 4,000 finally surrendered. As for the "big fish of NATO", it is actually an indisputable fact. This was already acknowledged by the commander of the Azov battalion on Turkish television, and this was the result of the surrender of all the defenders in exchange for the withdrawal of the NATO commander.
The second is the Battle of **Mutter, which ended half a year ago, which is a typical "meat grinder" battlefield set up by Russia against Ukraine. Taking advantage of Zelensky's psychology of exchanging Western aid at all costs, Russia has adopted the means of bombing without attacking and bombing without occupying, encircling on three sides, leaving a passage to attract the Ukrainian army to constantly "refuel", and using the absolute artillery superiority to consume the Ukrainian army's vital strength little by little.
In this battle alone, nearly 150,000 Ukrainian troops were annihilated, and the wounded were at least twice as many as those killed, ** no less than 400,000. In the end, the Ukrainian army really couldn't afford to be a major **, and in the hopelessness of holding on, Zelensky was forced to compromise with Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, who was dismissed a few days ago, and agreed to retreat.
The battle for **Muth, which lasted for more than half a year, not only caused heavy losses to the Ukrainian army, but also caused the most serious internal contradictions in Ukraine, and Zaluzhny was finally dismissed a few days ago. In fact, this has become an "atomic bomb" inside Ukraine, which may destroy Ukraine at any time.
And the battle of Avdeyevka, which lasted for a year and a half, was also a "meat grinder" set by Russia. How many people are stationed in the Ukrainian army, the outside world does not know. But in a matter of days in October last year, there were 3 additional troops50 thousand. At present, the number of the Ukrainian army is unknown, but judging from various reports, in the past month, the Ukrainian army has averaged more than 300 people per day, and at most more than 2,000 people a day.
In addition to a large number of personnel**, the firepower of the Ukrainian army simply cannot keep up. According to Ukrainian media reports, the commander of the 93rd Separate Mechanized Brigade of Ukraine, which is fighting in eastern Ukraine, said that the ammunition of the Ukrainian army currently stationed in Avdeyevka is depleted, and the ammunition reserves of the Russian army are almost ten times that of the Ukrainian army, and the Russian army has advantages in military equipment and personnel replenishment. The Ukrainian army's artillery barrels are also seriously insufficient, and at present, the Ukrainian side needs to update 3,000 artillery barrels, and the West only provides about 500 of them.
According to the retreat instructions of the new commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Syrsky, "in the case of the enemy's advance on the corpses of our soldiers with a 10 to 1 advantage in shells, under constant bombardment, this is the only correct solution." ”
If you look at it from the point of view of the battlefield situation and military geography, neither Avdeyevka nor Mutt is as strategic as Mariupol. But judging from the situation of the war for two years, the loss of **Mutter and Avdeyevka is a major blow to Ukraine's internal political level and military and civilian morale, as well as the confidence of US and Western aid, and its impact is far beyond Mariupol.
The retreat from Avdeyevka was the first order of the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army after taking office. This is a very sad situation. This time, Zelensky did not object, and praised it as the right decision.
In fact, this is a manifestation of Zelensky's helplessness. You can't just replace the newly appointed commander-in-chief again because of this, right?
Obviously, this is a major blow to the morale of the Ukrainian officers and soldiers and even the people.
There is a saying on the battlefield that "defeat is like a mountain", and the most fundamental reason is low morale and collapsed will.
With the US aid budget failing to pass so far, the United States has cut off supplies to Ukraine for three months, and the EU's 50 billion euros in aid is a total of 4 years, only 12.5 billion euros per year, which is far from enough for Ukraine. Moreover, this year's 12.5 billion euros will not be paid in a lump sum, how much can be given in the first quarter? It's a drop in the bucket.
This is also a major reason why the Ukrainian army was forced to abandon Avdeyevka.
How long can Ukraine hold out? Perhaps, Avdeyevka will become a major turning point in the Russian-Ukrainian war, which has lasted for two years.