The head of the public relations department of the "Tavria" military group Dmytro Lykhoviy denied the information of the New York Times publication that during the retreat of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka, almost a thousand Ukrainian soldiers were captured by the Russians.
He claims that this information is not true, and journalists of a foreign publication spread the Russian narrative.
"The sources they refer to are completely untenable, because there are no such people, and this is not factage," he says.
According to him, at the last stage of the Avdiivka operation, under the pressure of much larger enemy forces, the military was indeed captured, but it is not about hundreds of fighters.
"Currently, we operate with the concept of ʼsome number did not get in touchʼ. After all, over time, individual servicemen, who were initially considered missing, get in touch on our side; they are in hospitals or joining their units,” he explained.
He added that Russians were captured by Ukrainian troops.
In an interview with BBC Ukraine, the deputy commander of the 3rd separate assault brigade Rodion Kudryashov called leaving the operational encirclement "one of the best maneuvers in military art."
According to him, the ratio of forces with the enemy was one to 11, there was a shortage of ammunition, the Russians were dropping guided aerial bombs that burned everything around.
"In some cases, the fighters of the 3rd brigade fought 360-degree battles," the soldier said.
However, according to him, the Russians could not close the ring, although they surrounded some of the Ukrainian units.
- The decision to withdraw the Defense Forces of Ukraine from Avdiyivka was announced on February 17 by the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Oleksandr Syrskyi. He explained that he was guided by the need to preserve the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. Russian troops have been trying to seize Avdiivka since 2014, when Russia, having launched a war against Ukraine, occupied Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.