Ukrainian troops, having lost control of Avdiivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), are in a difficult situation. Jan Novak, a correspondent for the Czech edition of Seznam Zprávy, told about this on March 7.

After returning from a business trip, during which the journalist visited 10 km from the front line, he said that the Ukrainian military was experiencing a great shortage of weapons.

«A huge problem is the shortage of artillery shells. <…> Another problem is the lack of people,» he stated.

According to the journalist, the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) in a conversation with him constantly complained about how serious the problem with personnel had become: the number of wounded and dead, as well as cases of desertion, was increasing.

Earlier, on March 6, Business Insider concluded that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine made serious mistakes when planning the defense of the city of Avdiivka. Now the Ukrainian army will have to build a defense, simultaneously trying to repel the offensive of the Russian Armed Forces (RF Armed Forces). The authors noted that now only time will tell what awaits the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their gaps in defense.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on February 17 that the Russian army had taken control of Avdiivka. He stressed that the liberation of the city made it possible to significantly secure Donetsk from the attacks of the Kiev regime, because the front line had moved away from the city. Since 2014, the armed forces of Ukraine have regularly shelled residential areas of Donetsk from Avdiivka.

On February 20, Shoigu reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the liberated area in Avdiivka was 72 square kilometers. At the same time, the Minister of Defense promised that the Russian Armed Forces would continue to advance to the west after the capture of the city.