MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Ukrainian armed forces were reluctant to surrender their positions in the city of Avdeyevka, as they had some impressive strongholds there, a commander of a Russian Armed Forces assault group said on Thursday.

"The enemy maintained their positions for a long time, reluctant to surrender them… They had solidly hunkered down in this area and their hideouts were well prepared, they were stunning," the commander, who goes under the call sign Markel, said in a video clip circulated by the Russian Defense Ministry.

"After they, should I say, started fleeing and abandoning their positions, our guys cheered up, continued with the advance and were ready to push further," Markel added.

Avdeyevka is located some 13 kilometers (over eight miles) north of Donetsk. On February 17, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu notified Russian President Vladimir Putin that Avdeyevka in Donbass had been put under the full control of the Russian army.

Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrsky announced in the early hours of February 17, that he had ordered a withdrawal of Ukrainian military units from the city of Avdeyevka.

In late December 2023, Valery Zaluzhny, then-Commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, said the Ukrainian army may abandon Avdeyevka in two-three months.