MOSCOW, February 17. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s claim Ukrainian forces left Avdeyevka to save soldiers’ lives is a cynical lie, Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the State Duma’s Committee on International Affairs and leader of the LDPR, has said on his Telegram channel.

Earlier Zelensky admitted at the Munich Security Conference that the Ukrainian army had been forced to retreat from Avdeyevka to avoid being surrounded.

"Zelensky continues to cynically lie using the platform of the Munich conference. His attempt to explain the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from Avdeyevka by concern for the lives of soldiers is grand stand play," Slutsky wrote.

He believes that if there really was a goal to save lives, Kiev would change its strategy from war to peace.

"So far, even the slightest trace of this is nowhere in sight. Zelensky has no instructions from Washington and Brussels to this effect," Slutsky said.

In the early hours of Saturday, the Ukrainian army withdrew from Avdeyevka "to pre-prepared positions," the commander of the Tavria group of forces, Alexander Tarnavsky, said, adding that it was the only correct decision.

Earlier, the Ukrainian armed forces’ commander-in-chief, Alexander Syrsky, said that he had made a decision to pull Ukrainian units out of Avdeyevka.