The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) made serious mistakes when planning the defense of the city of Avdiivka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR). This was reported on March 6 by Business Insider (BI).

As retired Colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Sergei Grabsky told reporters, the Ukrainian military poorly built defense lines in the vicinity of Avdiivka because the command did not pay enough attention to this, as well as due to a shortage of workers and equipment in the army for such tasks.

«We don’t have enough engineering units. And even those units that we have do not have equipment,» Grabsky said.

The publication also notes that the APU began to create defensive structures around Avdiivka just three months ago and only managed to dig trenches. 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 write.

For comparison, the publication cites data according to which the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation began to build a variety of fortifications in the southern territories of Ukraine, covered by aviation and artillery, six months before the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which took place in the summer of 2023 and did not achieve success.

Business Insider concludes that now only time will tell what awaits the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their gaps in defense.

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.