Ukraine Troops Withdraw from Avdiivka

General Oleksandr Syrskyi - Reuters
General Oleksandr Syrskyi - Reuters
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Ukraine Troops Withdraw from Avdiivka

General Oleksandr Syrskyi - Reuters
General Oleksandr Syrskyi - Reuters

Kyiv troops withdrew from the eastern city of Avdiivka to avoid encirclement, Ukraine army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a Facebook post on Saturday.

The withdrawal, announced as Ukraine faces acute shortages of ammunition with US military aid delayed for months in Congress, aimed to save troops from being fully surrounded by Russian forces after months of fierce fighting, Kyiv said.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi, who took the helm of the Ukrainian military in a major shakeup last week, said Ukrainian forces had moved back to more secure positions outside the town that had a pre-war population of 32,000.

"I decided to withdraw our units from the town and move to defence from more favorable lines in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen," he was quoted as saying in an armed forces statement.

The loss of the town nearly two years into Russia's full-scale invasion may give President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a stronger case to make to the West for more urgent military aid as he addresses the Munich Security Conference on Saturday morning.

US President Joe Biden had said on Thursday that Avdiivka risked falling to Russian forces because of ammunition shortages following months of Republican congressional opposition to a new US military aid package for Kyiv.

Capturing Avdiivka is key to Russia's aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region, and could hand President Vladimir Putin a battlefield victory as he seeks re-election next month.

Avdiivka has borne the brunt of mounting offensive pressure by Russian forces in the east as wavering Western military aid has compounded the fatigue of troops fighting for almost two years.

"We are taking measures to stabilize the situation and maintain our positions," Syrskyi said.



Bomb Targeting Bus Carrying Security Forces Kills 5 and Wounds 10 in Restive Southwestern Pakistan

An armed Pakistani security official stands guard during an inspection of the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
An armed Pakistani security official stands guard during an inspection of the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
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Bomb Targeting Bus Carrying Security Forces Kills 5 and Wounds 10 in Restive Southwestern Pakistan

An armed Pakistani security official stands guard during an inspection of the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER
An armed Pakistani security official stands guard during an inspection of the scene where a train was hijacked by suspected militants, in Sibi, Pakistan, 15 March 2025. EPA/STRINGER

A roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying security forces in restive southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least five officers and wounding 10 others, police said.
The attack occurred in Naushki, a district in Balochistan, said Zafar Zamanani, a local police chief. He said the blast also badly damaged another nearby bus. The dead and wounded were transported to a nearby hospital, The Associated Press said.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, condemned the attack.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which days ago ambushed a train, took about 400 people on board hostage and killed 26 hostages before security forces launched an operation and killed all the 33 attackers.
Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Ethnic Baloch residents have long accused the central government of discrimination — a charge Islamabad denies. Baloch Liberation Army has been demanding independence from the central government.