The Ukrainian military confirmed the withdrawal from two villages near Avdeevka

Dmitry Lykhovoy, the commander of the Ukrainian troop group “Tavria”, confirmed the withdrawal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the villages of Severnoe and Stepnoe near Avdeevka, writes the Ukrainian Service of Radio Svoboda.

“Our troops retreated from the small forces of Severnoe and Stepnoe. They had up to 100 inhabitants before the war,” Lykhovoi said. At the same time, he noted that the Ukrainian military “stabilized the line of defense in the areas of Tonenko, Orlovka, and Berdychi.”

Prior to that, on Tuesday, the Minister of Defense of Russia, Sergey Shoigu, announced at the board of the department about the transfer of the settlement of Severnoe near Avdeevka under the control of the Russian army. Russian military bloggers and Ukrainian OSINT analysts wrote about it the day before. They also claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdrew from the village of Stepnoye.

Also on Tuesday, February 27, the Ukrainian Air Force announced that it shot down two Russian Su-34 fighter-bombers in the east of the country. Commander of the Air Force Nikolai Oleschuk published a photo, which, as he claims, shows one of the planes after its defeat. These data are not independently confirmed.

The Ministry of Defense of Russia has not yet reacted to the information about two downed Russian Su-34s. The pro-military Russian Telegram channel Fighterbomber denied the statement of the Ukrainian military about one downed Su-34 on Tuesday afternoon, the Russian service of the BBC notes.

• On the night of February 17, the Ukrainian army left Avdeevka, Donetsk region. The battles for the city, located to the northwest of Donetsk, have been going on since the very beginning of the large-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, the Ukrainian command and foreign intelligence reported that the combat situation in the Avdeevka region is extremely unfavorable for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, commenting on the withdrawal of the armed forces of Ukraine from Avdeyevka, noted that this happened against the background of an acute shortage of ammunition. The Ukrainian leader actively calls on the Western countries, which provide support to Ukraine, to continue their assistance. He emphasizes, among other things, that the shortage of weapons, especially artillery and long-range weapons, only strengthens the position of Russian President Vladimir Putin.