Units of 3rd Assault Brigade have been completely surrounded in Avdiivka for some time

Deputy commander of the 3rd Assault Brigade Maksym Zhorin said this.

"Now we can say that for some time some units of the 3rd Assault Brigade were completely surrounded in Avdiivka, but managed to get out. Some Russian channels write that there are fighters who are still on the territory of the Avdiivka Coke Plant - I can say that not a single one of our fighters is left there. There is basically nothing left there except a few dilapidated basements," he wrote.

According to him, almost half of all the guided aerial bombs launched by the invading Russian forces at Avdiivka were aimed at the coke plant.

• On February 17, the Defense Forces Command decided to withdraw units from Avdiivka and move to defense on more favorable lines.
• The commander of the Tavria direction, General Tarnavskyi, said that "a certain number" of Ukrainian defenders were taken prisoner by Russia during the retreat from Avdiivka.
• On February 19, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence, Serhiy Rakhmanin, said that he believed the Ukrainian Armed Forces should have withdrawn from Avdiivka earlier.