greetings, this is svoboda live, my name is vlasta lazur, and we start right from avdiyivka, a city in the east that is semi-surrounded by russian troops. ukraine continues to fight in the destroyed avdiivka, despite the acute lack of weapons, writes the bbc. the publication published a report from avdiivka. british journalist andrew harding notes that after many months of fighting, kremlin forces have approached the avdiyivka ruins, with some ukrainian soldiers privately admitting that the city could fall at any moment. instead of retreating from avdiivka, where soldiers are distributing ammunition against the backdrop of a shortage of weapons, the new commander-in-chief, general oleksandr syrsky , sent reinforcements to the city, the british newspaper financial times writes in its publication. the publication conducts. between the battle for avdiivka and

the defense of the city of bahmud, which the authors call persistent but unsuccessful. the financial times quoted mick ryan, a retired australian army major-general and military strategist, who said the battle of the widows would reveal how alexander the great could close the gap between the preferred the political results of its president and the reduction of ukraine's military resources. as well as... bahmud the president seems unwilling to give up avdiivka, even if the military situation indicates that withdrawal may now be the best option to preserve the remaining fighters. not giving up the territory and maintaining the combat forces in the current conditions will be very difficult to achieve. well, in the meantime , a post appeared in the telegram channel of the third assault brigade under the heading avdiivske hell. it is reported that military personnel brigades were transferred to the avdiivka region to strengthen the units of the armed forces of ukraine located there.

in 2023, the third assault brigade distinguished itself during the storming of klishchiivka and andriivka near bakhmut, after which the brigade was taken out for rest and replenishment, and now it is back in battle. the publication forps wrote at the beginning of the week that the third assault plane was transferred to the avdiyiv direction, but the military did not officially confirm this information. as the brigade's statement now states, the troops of the third assault division conducted raids on the districts of avdiyivka, captured by the russian military and inflicted, as... it is claimed, a critical defeat on two brigades of the armed forces of russia. during the period of stay in the avdiiv region, two brigades of the armed forces of russia were critically damaged. the exact losses of the enemy in personnel and equipment will be reported later after confirmation of the necessary data. at the same time, the objective situation in avdiivka remains threatening and unstable. the enemy continues the active rotation of his troops and brings new forces and means to the city. at

the end of 2023, the russian troops were unsuccessful tried to completely bypass avdiivka from the north, cutting off the supply of the main support point of the armed forces at the avdiiv coke plant. there, the russian troops had to advance through fields and forest strips near the village of stepove. and military experts stated at the time that the attacks in the open area led to extremely large losses of equipment and people on the part of russia, while the russian advance was insignificant. in the new year , russian troops will join. tactics and are trying to cut off the coking plant from avdiivka, next to which the main line passes supply of the armed forces. late in the evening on february 13 , deepstate analysts stated that russian troops had cut off the industrial avenue. this is the main highway in avdiivka, which connects the city with the coke-chemical plant and leads to the west. oleksandr borodin, press officer of the third separate assault brigade, joins our broadcast. oleksandr, i welcome you on the air. i congratulate you. oleksandr, what is the task now? stands in front of the third assault in

avdiivka? well, our task is to be on the defensive, relative to the enemy, well, i can't give you a broader answer to provide on defense, that is, not on offense, on defense, right? well, you see, this is all a rather complex defense, it is a very complex thing, so the central task, clearly, is in the defense. i'm a cytupa already today. quoted deep state analysts, i will continue, but they reported today that, firstly, they reminded that the decision on rotation was made much earlier, not now, and it should not be connected with a change in the military leadership, but at the same time, analysts add that the expediency of such a maneuver is to drive the assault unit into an operational one encirclement to strengthen the defense, it looks extremely strange, what do you say about that, well, i can't give an assessment to the general staff.

some other officers, senior officers, so i cannot give any assessment, at the moment, well , the situation as it is at the moment, at the moment the situation is quite critical, that is, it must be understood... that there are two armies against us here, that is, taking into account the ratio, well, in fact, one to seven , and well, this is a very , very serious, very serious challenge, so the situation is critical, we are currently carrying out the assigned task, carrying out the given order, but such ratios are uh that these line brigades are mechanized, so that there is a comparison with... there, which we were also on the defensive during wagner's time, for example, then there was still a mixture between a prisoner, conditional and special forces, then here the line brigades are mechanized of the russian the federation and spokespeople from the gru, that is

, let's say, the fist now, probably the most serious fist of the russian federation in ukraine. by the way, just today yuriy butusov, a military... journalist, he wrote about the fact that it is there, that is, in avdiivka, that the fate of many of the best people is now being decided, and in general, his post was quite pessimistic, do you agree with this thesis that the fate of many of the best people is being decided in avdiivka, well, for me, all the fighters of the third assault are the best people, you understand, that is, it is difficult for the military to operate with such epithets, of course. .. i directly bear some kind of internal responsibility to each fighter, and it is clear that for me it is all very serious and responsible, er, the question is how it will be tomorrow, the question is how the situation with the enemy will be, i.e. it is difficult

to say and evaluate epithets in context military affairs, but oleksandr, if you look at the map, for example, the same one from dipst, it looks like the city is practically surrounded. there is a small area there that is not surrounded, but the military says that it is under fire control, will it even be possible to get out of avdiivka in case it becomes impossible to even keep the defense there? well, let's put it this way, and as our cambrig said, that some of our units work at almost 360, or at 360°, that is, the situation is really difficult, precisely in that one of the elements, except... such - simply - well, a rather serious 1/7 ratio, the thing is that the enemy can harvest from almost completely 360 in some areas, this does not mean that he

is surrounded, but we are completely surrounded in these areas, but this means that he can hit, and this is a very difficult er... defense format, and are you currently considering, or your military command, the option of leaving the city? well, let's put it this way, we carry out the order, that is, you understand, it is possible to consider in civilian life, in military life it is necessary follow the order aren't you afraid that in a few days it will be too late, and the brigade, one of the largest combat and model brigades, will simply be surrounded. uh well, you see, again, i'm not afraid, there are just real challenges that need to be worked with, that need to be adequately evaluated and decisions made, if they are, they will need it, you understand, that is, war in general is often

scary, but the question here is not that, the question is the correct and adequate assessment and response to this assessment, respectively qualified. people, officers , and so on, you understand, that is, it is difficult to evaluate this , whether it is scary there because of the epic or not, oleksandr, but literally just now, so far only the russian venkors, i will not mention the names of their telegram channels or names, but they publish the information that the russian troops captured the main entrance to avdiyivka, and on the northern edge of the city they planted a russian flag, they at least published a video, and judging by the geolocation, it is just right... next to the ceiling where the name of the city is engraved, near which was photographed by the ukrainian military at the end of december 23 and volodymyr zelenskyi, what do you know about it? well, i can't confirm this information yet, it often happens that the occupiers, they put

their rags, and not always, by the way, they put rags in places there, it could be an advanced group, it could be like an advanced group, yes and already there, relatively speaking rvp... of support, that is, it is not an indicator of the presence in that place, it is partially, perhaps an indicator of the presence of personnel, but not an indicator of the presence of fortified positions there or there... there's heavy infantry or something. and i have one last question, literally during the last week, the russian aviation and missile forces have carried out dozens of strikes on the rear in the areas of avdiivka, this is near the coke plant and even in the cities of selidove and kurakhove, which are 35 km from avdiivka. and the military analysts with whom we had the opportunity to speak, they say that in this way russia is trying to prevent the transfer of forces and means to the city, and if it is supplies. will be interrupted, then the organized withdrawal of the garrison from avdiivka will become altogether impossible, is it you or do you allow it?

well, let's say this, one of the very difficult elements of avdiyivka itself - there are cabs, it's true , yes there is fpv, a very, for example, a very large number of them, other forces and means, but cabs, well, for example, for us in bakhmut, they there were also, but not in such a quantity, and this is what really gives... an advantage to the enemy, it must be said clearly, let’s say this, in terms of logistics, you understand, but now that’s precisely why i’m so careful, now precisely because of a critical situation , and you have to be very careful before some such moments, especially with logistics, because war is actually built on logistics, both at the tactical level and at the operational and strategic level, and accordingly our guys work, the rear works. what will happen next, what will the situation be next , we will watch, we will make a decision, it is very difficult to say here, i thank you for taking

the time to join our broadcast oleksandr borodin, press officer of the third separate assault brigade, a brigade that from the beginning of this he is in the avdiiv region this week, thank you, and we will continue the topic avdiivka, our broadcast is joined by oleksandr musienko, head of the center for military and legal research, good evening, good evening, well, you see in the armed forces and... in particular , in the third assault unit, they state that the situation in avdiivka is threatening, unstable, not everyone can speak , the military cannot talk about everything, but to what extent do you see the threatening and unstable situation in avdiivka? it is very threatening, because it is clear that the enemy will concentrate on achieving their goals, i.e. capturing avdiivka, or what is from it remained the situation is difficult, indeed , due to the fact that... we have two or three challenges there, which are: the first is that the enemy is trying to close

the flanks directly, and is constantly pressing from the northern and southern flanks, the situation was somewhat stabilized on the northern flanks, where in the previous two or three days the enemy had some success and advanced and developed his offensive, it is also natural that what they will always strive to cut logistics, well, directly... this is an offensive in the center of the flanks, that is, it offensive in the eastern part the city, the enemy enters there and is already dropping reinforcements, they are trying to gain a foothold behind the residential buildings in these areas in order to try to advance further through urban battles, thus squeezing out our groups, that is why the situation is difficult, there are many forces, indeed the aviation is actively working, the enemy... it is clear that we lack a sufficient number of air defense means, well

, it is impossible to concentrate them there now, because the enemy is already acting so powerfully, and the manpads will not get everything, because the manpads will not get the guided aerial bombs, because they are launched at distance, and it is not attack aircraft when the plane flies low, and as earlier planes were shot down in avdiivka, over avdiivka, now it is more difficult to do it, because when these are guided air bombs, they are launched from a distance. so it's a very significant threat because they have air superiority, and they have the advantage of having more artillery today, and so, of course, that complicates the situation, our forces match what they have and with the means that exist and do it quite well, in general it can be said that avdiivka, despite the fact that the scenario... did not happen, at the end of the battle for this settlement, it definitely already fulfilled three

very important goals, our troops there, firstly, they inflicted quite serious losses of equipment and manpower on the enemy, and secondly, they stopped the pace of the offensive operation, because if not here is this battle for avdiivka, which began in october, well , i risk admitting that the enemy could already be somewhere, if not in kostyantynivka, then maybe i would move to pokrovsk, that is, you have to understand... what it could lead to, and now they won't be able to do it, and next, they pulled out a large amount of reserves for themselves, preventing the occupiers from developing successes in other directions. therefore, and the ukrainian contingent has already fulfilled these tasks, therefore, if the ukrainian contingent has already fulfilled these tasks, and on the condition that we, let's say this, taking into account the objective factors and circumstances that exist, and not everyone works for us, of course, that the scenario of the potential withdrawal of ukrainian troops, it is on the table, i think it will be considered, because, well

, because there are relevant challenges and threats, and it is very important to preserve it. combat potential directly to our forces, because well, the war is not over, but if, but if you say that the withdrawal scenario is on the table, but if the third assault brigade was sent there, and now the representative of the brigade told us that they are holding the defense there, well, it looks so that it is not in order to take them away from there later, is it not a fact, we do not know exactly for sure, and then why would we, yes, we do not know exactly the tasks and orders. received, it spits, this is the first, secondly, the situation is changing, it is dynamic every day, you understand that the orders may change, if yesterday there was one order to hold, it is possible that tomorrow there will be an order to ensure withdrawal, if there is no such order already, that is, you understand that it is necessary to secure and extract those of our fighters who needed reinforcements, who find it extremely

difficult, and of course, that fresh forces can do this, especially such a powerful one. brigade as the third assault, this may be a variant of the development of events, that is, it cannot be ruled out either, to date we cannot yet draw categorical conclusions with which purpose they were sent, well, for obvious reasons, because no one will report about it, but i would not rule out that such tasks may also be posed in the event of a further deterioration of this situation, here i want to return to the point before theses , which i quote... from the financial times, they wrote that the battle of avdiyivka will make it clear how oleksandr syrskyi will be able to close the gap between the political, desired political result of the president and the reduction of ukraine's military resources. journalists state that weapons is ending, its shortage at least exists now, including among those troops who

are in the avdiivka direction, and you know, and in this context, many compare the battle for avdiivka with the defense... bakhmut, do you see any parallels here, and how do you do you think it is advisable to continue defending avdiyivka, if you yourself just said that the city itself is in ruins, and the ukrainian military has already completed many tasks there? yes, that is why i say that this scenario can be considered, there are three of them in general, but you understand, if i name you three and everyone can hear and basically understand what they are. the first scenario is to continue to hold. avdiyivka , well, continue on, send reinforcements there, in addition to the third assault unit, maybe units, and in principle, i will tell you that it is not a fact that it will still be possible to hold, because the enemy continues to press, and you understand, they have after all, the superiority in the air in this direction, this, let's say

, still means something, and the bombs, they cause serious damage, that's the first fact. i.e. hold and then exit anyway, but, let's say, with the fact that our combat units are equipped, well, they will be there, especially after the restoration, as the third combat- capable, they will still be there and may suffer losses, the second is to try to counterattack, well, it is difficult, because it is necessary to do it inconspicuously with a large number of troops, which is also difficult and sudden now, because the enemy is also preparing for such plans, and the third is controlled... withdraw to the border and continue to strike the enemy, these are the three scenarios, i think that with point of view is simply without evaluation military, political, but simply from the point of view of situation modeling, risk assessment, assessment of the current combat positions of the parties, the number of forces and means that are concentrated, assessment of the location

of our units and enemy units from the point of view of advancement prospects, simply the third scenario he... with of this position and it is given to the most likely, let's say, and probably the most desirable, based on what is, how it will be, the nearest time will show, i think that by the end of the week we will already understand, by the end of the week one of these should already be chosen scenarios, i'm almost me if he, if he's not already elected, uh, maybe he, maybe he's already elected and he's already running, just running in a certain way, let's say, well, well, we heard the spokesperson today. grouping of troops of tavriy, osuvry of mr. lykhovy , who said that some of the units are rotating to other positions, that is, we don't think, we don't guess, this... position, well , accordingly, this also indicates that that there is an understanding that, well, you see, no one wants to get into, god forbid, some environment,

that is, this, i will say that this, you know, we very often in the information space raise the issue of ilovaisk, debaltsev, and there it is hinted that here are our military leaders, and the previous commander-in-chief, and the current commander-in-chief, they were in those days... yes fought in the anti-terrorist operation themselves and were somehow involved in those actions, but you know that no one learns from certain decisions like military commanders, well, normal military commanders, and they do not want to allow this in the future, so i am almost sure, and full-scale experience the invasion testified that our troops managed to avoid encirclement except for mariupol, well, there was a completely different situation there, but neither mountainous, nor golden, nor... donets, nor lysychansk, nor other settlements where the enemy was preparing an encirclement and already seemed like a pincer, no one gave them such a gift, i hope that they will not give the same here.

please tell me, do you have an understanding of why russia has now thrown all its resources and all its forces into avdiivka, and if indeed ukrainian troops will withdraw from avdiivka in an organized manner, and the city will finally come under russian control, what will the next target be? russian army, what will it be? i think that they can try to move towards pokrovsk, they can try to attack beyond chasiv yar and try to move towards kostyantynivka, plus they still have the direction of kurakhovo, which is in the mariyansk direction, that is , they will try to break through to these settlements, well, that is the goal remains, it is the capture of the donetsk region and... the principles will try to implement it, but i do not think that it will remain now, because even if they capture avdiivka and it happens, then i will say that, in principle,

it is unlikely that they will be able to develop a serious pace of offensive operations now, because further on we will withdraw to certain positions, i think that our air defense means will be more active and certain, so that they cannot be concentrated in avdiivka now, of course, because they will be destroyed, and it will not be so easy for them to advance further, besides losses, it is necessary to regroup, to staff, and they will be given a certain time for this, so that there will be euphoria in russia, they will celebrate a month, it's like i don't know what happened there, what they took, it's clear that then the elections , but of course, well, they have, you understand, they have a political goal, that is, russia has already lost so much that... any western analysts, they are surprised and do not understand how this is possible, but they have a political goal, and putin, in order to achieve his political goal, he is ready to sacrifice his own army,

and so, of course, they will continue to advance, they will try anyway still capture, because something must be done, because i want to remind you, the offensive began in october, at two o'clock in the middle of october of the 23rd year, and it is already underway, soon. six months and it is necessary to demonstrate, well, some successes, after all, this is a large-scale offensive, after all, in the east, and the gains are not so many, as for such an offensive and for such a number of troops, so they will try, well, there is one more threat, besides avdiivka , it is still kupyansk, and that is why it is singled out in this way, because you understand, this is the northern flank, which we need to protect quite seriously, because in the event that the enemy breaks through there... they went to kupyansk and on could connect with the liman group, to go to the north of donetsk region, and to actually surround kharkiv, kharkiv oblast, that is why this is not allowed, and that is why there is an understanding

that this direction should also be kept, and that is why reinforcements also went there, by the way, we mentioned this to you elections in russia, well, many people link the situation in avdiivka to the russian elections, that putin wants to have some kind of political victory before the elections, by the way, he commented on the course of the war in ukraine, he said in an interview russia -1, it seems, of the tv channel, he said that he regrets that russia did not start active hostilities earlier, and you know, this somehow does not correlate with the fact that, as written by the western media, putin is allegedly seeking some kind of negotiations, in recent weeks they have especially actively started writing about it , i want some kind of freezing of the war, tell me what he is now globally striving for russia is on the battlefield, and do you see any signs that it is interested ... in the freeze or in the negotiations, and in general, to whom and what signals the kremlin is sending now? i think they would be interested in reducing the intensity

of the fighting. act in one way or another, i.e. that what is called a freeze, just for what purpose, well, you understand, with the purpose of using it to regroup, re-staff their own units and, well, at least to fulfill the goals of capturing the donetsk region, at least , that is, that is what they would like to do and what they would like to achieve, and on this you understand, for them, of course, what is the trend now, well , there will be more battles until march. until the beginning of april, then the intensity will begin to subside, then they will need some time to try to transfer new equipment, well, not new, but the one that will be removed from the warehouses there, but the equipment, to try to equip our own units, those that have suffered losses, to carry out rotations, to deliver ammunition, it will all go according to logistics, logistics, during this time ukraine, i hope, will receive

f-16 planes, i hope, maybe we ... it is clear that no one will observe this activity of the enemy and the ukrainian forces will begin to strike with aircraft, jlsdb at a shorter distance and so on. and of course, what russia would like to present as a ruse now is that let's try to somehow send some signals at this time that we are ready there to something, at least somehow stop the aid to ukraine there. and so on, and at this time they will carry out certain reorganizations, so i don't think that at least until the situation with the presidential elections in the usa, until the end of this year, let's say, russia will generally show any readiness there, you understand, whatever this readiness is, and in the united states it is absolutely right to point out that it involves an exclusively

deceptive maneuver for... today and taking time exclusively for the preparation of new operations, and because, of course, before that and are put thank you very much for your comment. oleksandr musienko, head of the center for military and legal research, we talked about the situation in avdiy, in the avdiiv region. soldiers at the front also tell journalists about the situation, the lack of ammunition. for example, servicemen of the 80th separate airborne assault brigade of halych hold the defense on... bakhmut, they told journalists about the tactics of the russian military on their part of the front, and about the need for new weapons. rollback, what with rollback normal?

and for now we are taking turns, shells are always needed, the war is not over yet, so we need a lot of shells, and we need a lot of equipment, we need a lot of everything, if, if they give it, it will be good, and yes... for now we use what we have , cannon , well, they climb much less by manpower , they also use little techniques, well, but in essence it is the same as in the summer, the winter is only colder, and so on, in the summer they

try to make more leaves en masse. well, in winter they go in twos, threes, ones, running, and so on, that's what we would like more shells, so that we can actually work and cover our infantry, during the day they don't go out anywhere, they have dugouts somewhere, their pits, trenches, they sit there. they wait when it is already night, or when the day turns to evening, and the bird cannot adequately fix them, then they try to advance and capture firing positions,