"It was necessary to save soldiers' lives": Zelenskyy comments on Ukrainian troops’ withdrawal from Avdiivka

Zelenskyy said this at the Munich Security Conference.

"In order not to be surrounded, it was decided to withdraw to other lines. This does not mean that Russia has captured anything. It has not captured anything. During the 2 years of war, Russia tried to do something in the east. They just destroyed a few small villages and towns. But the biggest thing they destroyed was our lives," the president said.

According to him, since October 2023, the occupying Russian forces have been trying to attack Avdiivka with all the weapons they had. However, thousands of Russian servicemen died as a result.

"Saving lives is the right decision, in my opinion. Then there will be recovery. We will wait for the appropriate weapons that were missing. I'm telling you quite frankly: there are no long-range weapons. Russia has them, but we have very few. Our main weapon today is our soldiers and people," the president added.

In addition, the Zelenskyy said that he could not name the Ukrainian losses in Avdiivka, but they were 1 to 7: "There are seven Russians for every Ukrainian."

• In order to avoid encirclement and save the lives of the military, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces decided to withdraw troops from Avdiivka and move to defense on more favorable lines.