MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The situation in the Avdeyevka area is becoming extremely critical for the Ukrainian army and the decision to send Ukrainian reinforcements there may mean a purely political task to retain control of this locality at any cost, a military expert, former officer of Ukraine’s Security Service SBU, Ivan Stupak has said.

"In the Avdeyevka area the situation is getting tougher every day, because the Russians advance in this direction. There have already been cases of deep penetrations into our positions. The Russians realize that they need to push a little more - and there will be a result," Stupak said on the TV channel Espreso.

He added that the 3rd assault brigade had been sent to Avdeyevka.

"At this point we do not know the purpose: whether it is to hold the town until our military pulls back, or if it is a political task, the way it was in the case with Bakhmut (Artyomovsk - TASS): hold it at any cost. The situation is very critical. We see the Russians push ahead every day," Stupak said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Ivan Sekach, the spokesman for the 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade, admitted that at the moment his unit lacked the strength to retain Avdeyevka. He also said that for the first time in almost two years of participation in the fighting, some of the brigade's soldiers were fully withdrawn from the frontline for recreation and rotation because "reinforcements came." He did not name the unit.

In late December 2023, the then Ukrainian armed forces’ commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, said that Ukrainian troops might have to leave Avdeyevka in two to three months. On February 2, he briefed President Vladimir Zelensky on the difficult situation in this area. According to Forbes magazine, Zaluzhny's replacement with Alexander Syrsky as the armed forces’ commander-in-chief might signal Zelensky's intention to fight for the city "even at a high price." Syrsky, unlike Zaluzhny, has a reputation of a commander who does not stop at heavy losses on the battlefield.

The battle for Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name: Bakhmut), which is an important transportation hub for supplying the Ukrainian troops in Donbass, has become one of the largest in the course of the special military operation. The fighting for the city began on August 1, 2022, and ended on May 20, 2023. The Ukrainian army suffered heavy losses in that battle. According to some estimates, Ukraine’s losses in the fighting for Soledar and Artyomovsk range 35,000 to 40,000.