Avdiyvka was on the front line of the war between Kiev and Moscow for almost a decade. Fighting has been fierce for months since Russia's full-scale occupation of Ukraine nearly two years ago.
Withdrawal is much less persistent. When the Ukrainian army abandoned the city on Saturday, handing Russia its most important victory in months, the retreat was swift and ruthless.
“Leave the 300 (wounded)”, “Burn them all,” ordered a soldier.
A few hours after Russian troops raised flags on Avdiyivka, the horrific story emerged of many wounded soldiers who could not escape – and were later killed when Russian troops reached their position.
The Ukrainian soldiers at the scene were part of the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade, occupying a position known as Zenit. As Russian forces advanced through Avdivka last week, Zenit came under heavy fire.
According to one of the soldiers there, Viktor Bliak, the soldiers stationed there made desperate efforts to escape the ruins of the city. In a lengthy and often sobering Instagram post, Bliak described a dangerous journey into the future.
“Nothing visible. It's all about survival. A kilometer across the countryside. Blind kittens guided by a drone. Enemy artillery. The road to Avdiivka is strewn with Ukrainian corpses,” he wrote.
Finally, a commander informed him over the radio that the wounded would not be evacuated. Six left behind. The messages they left were difficult to read, Bliak said.
“Their desperation, their misfortune. It will be with us forever. The brave die,” he added.
The soldiers retreated
Since pro-Moscow separatists seized large parts of the Donbass region in 2014, Avdiyvka has been at the forefront. Years of fighting have turned the city into a fortress, with differences built up over the past eight years.
But with the Ukrainian military under pressure at many points on the front line and facing shortages of ammunition and manpower, the Russian military may have sensed a window of opportunity. Russia bombarded the area with airstrikes and artillery before intensifying its ground offensive.
Over the weekend, Ukrainian forces decided to abandon the city, handing Russia its most significant victory since capturing the city of Pakmut last year.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the decision to withdraw was made to “save the lives of our soldiers”.
Among those trapped and surrounded was a 30-year-old junior sergeant and combat medic from the Dnipropetrovsk region named Ivan Zhitnik with the call sign “Django.” Like the 110th Regiment it had been fighting in Avdiivka for almost two years.
He was badly injured and could not move.
On Thursday, he was able to contact his sister Kateryna and other family members through an emotional video call, which was widely publicized in Ukrainian media and social media.
Kateryna asks her brother: “So, they… nobody came? Are your friends (with you) or are you alone?”
Zhytnyk answers: “Everyone left, everyone retreated. They told us that a car would come and pick us up. I have two broken legs and pieces in my back. I can't do anything…”
He said there were half a dozen players in Zenit's position, four of whom, like Zhytnyk, couldn't walk.
Katerina replies: “I don't know how… I don't know who to call,” she says, crying. “I don't understand. Who will take you?”
Nobody did.
Ukrainian journalists working with Slidstvo.info later spoke to the families of three of the injured Ukrainians.
Kateryna told Slidstvo.info, “They waited for a day and a half for the (exit) vehicle. When they realized that no one came to pick them up, they started calling everyone. When Ivan called me, They ran out of medicine and food.”
Later on Thursday, another family member contacted Zhytnyk via video call, according to Kateryna.
“My brother said the command agreed that the Russians would remove them because our men couldn't get to them,” Katerina said. As they speak, the video shows Russian troops entering the area where the men were trapped.
Another player arrested at Zenit is Andrii Dubnytskyi. His wife Liudmyla told Slidstvo.info: “We talked at 10 in the morning (Thursday). He hurt his hip, he wobbled, tried to play, he started crying. Then we texted…” .
“The last message was at 12:00, he said he would be caught,” the woman said.
February 7, 2024 at 3:00 PM ET Notes: “Respondent” means the Agency for Combat Research has received reliable, independently verifiable information demonstrating Russian control or advances in these areas. Russian advances are areas where Russian forces operate or conduct attacks, but do not control. Sources say that “claimed” areas are controlled or counter-attacks are taking place, but ISW cannot confirm or prove that these are false. Sources: Institute for the Study of War with the AEI Critical Threats Project; Landscan HD for Ukraine, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Graphics: Lou Robinson and Renee Rigdon, CNN
Mom, I am a warrior
On Friday, a Russian military blogger posted a video showing the bodies of several soldiers. The video featured the logo of the Russian Army's 1st Slavic Brigade, which multiple reports said entered the Zenit area south of Avdivka two days earlier.
The video's text says it was filmed “on the premises of a military unit” in Avdiivka on Friday. He refers to Ukrainian troops as Nazis and says “only death awaits you on our land.”
When the Russians took them from the Zenit position, Katerina recognized her brother's body from his clothes and the water bottle he was holding.
Soldier Bliak, who posted on his Instagram account, recognized Andriy Dubnytsky because he had a cross tattoo on his arm.
Dubnitsky's wife, Lyudmila, also discovered the video late at night. “At 22:30 I found this video and recognized him by his tattoo,” he said.
“He was called up on March 8, 2022, and since then he has always been in Avdivka… My daughter was 4 months old when he was mobilized,” he explained to Slidstvo.info.
Another player's mother made the same gruesome discovery.
Hiori Pavlov, with the call sign “Panda,” has been a contract soldier since 2015 and served in Zenit last year, according to his mother Inna.
“They waited three days for an (evacuation) car,” he said.
“On the 14th, he was wounded, he had shrapnel wounds on his back … I begged him a lot, son, surrender, I want you alive – he has a little son who is five years old.”
“He said: Mom, I'm a warrior,” Inna told Slidstvo.info.
“I want to believe they're alive, all I want now is to find my son,” she continued.
A few hours later, he identified his son's body in the same Russian video.
The 110th Brigade told CNN it could not verify any details of the incident and was trying to verify what happened.
A well-known Ukrainian military blogger, Yuri Butusov, meanwhile, published the names of six soldiers who were left behind in the Zenit position.
“These wounded could not go on their own and there were no evacuation vehicles to transport them. Due to the complete siege of Zenit, no vehicles could go for evacuation,” Butsov said.
It is not known how the soldiers died, but the Russian army “executed the defenseless and unarmed wounded who were captured and unable to move,” Putsov said.
Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office said it had opened an investigation into the wounded soldiers' case of “violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.”
In a statement released on Monday, the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade said it had tried to negotiate with Russian forces to evacuate wounded troops from the Zenit position after being completely encircled.
“They are [concordaram] In removing the wounded and giving them aid and then exchanging them (for other prisoners of war). Our soldiers were ordered to save their lives,” the statement said.
The brigade later learned that its soldiers had been killed through a video released by Russian forces.
“War is brutal and we are fighting for freedom at a high cost,” he said.
CNN is reaching out to the Russian Defense Ministry for comment on allegations against Russian forces in Avdiivka.
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