I barely survived the Ukrainian withdrawal from Avdiivka
A soldier tells the inside story of the retreat from Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine which has fallen after nearly a decade. We explore what this loss means, amid American dithering over aid.
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This video was shot by the soldiers of the 110th Brigade during the withdrawal from Avdiivka in February 2024 (Via Facebook).
Viktor Bilyak, a soldier of the 110th Brigade, was ready to die.
He was one of the Ukrainian troops who were fighting in Avdiivka, and at one point, he thought that he would be unlikely to get out of the city with his life.
Under Russian shelling, Viktor and his comrades had nowhere to hide. They thought they were surrounded on all sides, and that they would be captured or executed, like hundreds of other soldiers in this bloody war.
But, fortunately, in a kind of miracle, Viktor made it.
On February 17, Ukrainian forces had to retreat from Avdiivka, near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The fighting in the city dates back to 2014, when the Russian aggression began.
The most forward-placed Ukrainian forces near Avdiivka were at the ‘Zenit position,’ a site that stuck out into Russian-controlled territory, and became famous around the country due to Ukrainians being able to hold it over years and years of fighting.
That is why the defense of the city was important for Ukraine: it had held out for so long. However, due to the almost-complete encirclement of Avdiivka, the military withdrew from the position two weeks ago.
After Russia's full-scale invasion started, the Ukrainians successfully repelled Russian attempts to advance on Avdiivka for a long time. But in early October 2023, the Russian army began a renewed attack.
In four months of constant attacks, the Russians lost many thousands of soldiers and hundreds of armored vehicles as they tried to capture the Zenit position and the town of Avdiivka – according to the Ukrainian military,.
In fact, the number of troops Moscow lost in the months-long campaign to capture Avdiivka exceeds its losses during the decade-long conflict in Afghanistan in the 1980s, the NYT reports.
There are differing opinions on what the loss of Avdiivka means. Roman Svitan, a military expert and reserve colonel for the Ukrainian military, said that it is a significant strategic loss that prevents Ukraine from launching further offensives against key cities in the occupied Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
On the other hand, it would be much worse to lose a lot of our military, weapons, and equipment there, as Russia has done, argued Dmytro Snigeryov, another military analyst.
For Viktor, even after this defeat, with all its personal repercussions, the war goes on, and the defeat doesn’t dramatically change the situation on the battlefield in Russia's favor.
Until February 24, 2022, Viktor, from Lviv, had nothing to do with the war, except for spending a year and a half in the army. He had been involved in cycling since childhood – professionally, and for a while as a coach. He planned to spend the rest of his life in this field.
But it was not to be. When the war began in earnest, he stayed in his apartment all the time and did not go outside. It was not depression, but rather confusion. He wanted to be useful.
"I was so lazy, I thought I wasn't going to volunteer or carry anything. But I saw people going to the front who had never held a gun, and I had. I realized that I had to go to the front," Viktor Bilyak told The Counteroffensive.
Viktor decided to go to war as a volunteer fighter 11 days after the start of full-scale war… on his 25th birthday. He was immediately sent to the Avdiivka region. He stayed at the Zenit position for almost two years.
Over the last four months, the Russians have used all its might against the Ukrainian military, trying hard to break the line of defense, to take Avdiivka through encirclement.
"When you have a severe shortage of ammunition and nothing to respond with, over time enemy shelling destroys all your fortifications and wounds your personnel. You run out of shelter and human resources," Viktor said.
Several weeks ago, logistical lines were cut off by the Russians troops and water supplies were running low. They couldn't stay in their positions.
In mid-February, Ukrainian reinforcements were sent to the Avdiivka area to help. The units initially defended the town, but were later forced to withdraw and cover the withdrawal of other Ukrainian forces.
Viktor did not believe he would be able to leave the city. He spent the last week saying goodbye to his entire family.
"We knew we would have only one road [to evacuate on], and it would be heavily shelled. And staying there meant death or capture," Viktor told The Counteroffensive.
However, he was lucky. On February 16, Viktor’s cheek was cut by a shell fragment from a munition that exploded when he was helping his wounded comrade.
Viktor did not wait for an evacuation vehicle. He got out of the Zenit position by foot , with just his rifle and armor, walking one kilometer by himself. After that, he and his comrades walked almost 3.5 kilometers to the Avdiivka town, where it was safer.
There were six severely wounded soldiers left at Zenit, four of whom could not move on their own because of injury. At first they thought that they would be evacuated. But later they communicated with the command by radio and were told that evacuation vehicles would not be able to reach them.
Viktor said that this morally destroyed the soldiers who managed to escape.
“When we all heard that the wounded soldier had contacted the commander by radio, it had a very depressing effect on us. There was strong dissatisfaction with the command,” Viktor said.
Those remaining Ukrainians were surrounded by Russian troops. A few days later, Russian soldiers published a video of these POWs.
This could have been avoided, Viktor said with sadness in his voice: "If the retreat had been organized earlier, at least a few days earlier. If there had been other ways to leave without being surrounded."
Some Western media outlets reported that hundreds of Ukrainian POWs were captured in Avdiivka. Viktor believes the numbers were far lower than that: "A thousand is too many. This is apparently the total number of soldiers who were in Avdiivka.” The high numbers have also been denied by the Ukrainian command.
Viktor tried to explain to me what leaving Avdiivka means in a very dry fashion, without unnecessary details. He was struck when the open source, public information maps that show the precise positions of the frontlines showed the Zenit position as red – meaning that Russians controlled it.
He does not mention his exhaustion from the war, but I can feel it in his voice.
Viktor's passion for sport helped him during the war. During cycling training he had to carry a lot of equipment, and during combat even more. So it was easier for him to fight than for other unprepared soldiers.
Now Viktor is in the hospital, and his comrades are at the home base. This is not an official vacation, but it is an opportunity to take a break. After the loss of Avdiivka, Viktor says, his fellow soldiers are in a depressed mood. They are very tired and psychologically destroyed. Many of them have started drinking.
"It would be a good time to give the military a vacation. Everyone has been home for a maximum of 10 days [since the full-scale invasion started]," Viktor said sadly.
What Viktor misses most about his life before the war is the simple things that peace brings. He is unable to go outside and take a walk.
"You're underground all the time, and it depresses you," Viktor said.
When he is released from the hospital, he will return to battle. "I have to," Viktor told me briefly. Despite the fact that the full-scale war has been going on for two years, this soldier has no plans to give up. He says he will fight as long as it takes.
Behind the paywall: our first-ever fictional narrative, from author Matt Gallagher, who writes a short story about a U.S. military veteran on the road to Avdiivka. And in the news, everyone is talking about an audio leak of German generals discussing the Ukraine War.
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