MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/. The capture of Avdeyevka in the Donetsk People’s Republic, turned by the Ukrainian military into one of the citadels during the conflict in Donbass, was a real success for the Russian Armed Forces, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Kirill Budanov (listed as a terrorist and extremist in Russia), has admitted.

"The Russians had a real success in Avdeyevka. This has to be recognized. It is a fact," Budanov said in an interview with the BBC's Ukrainian service.

Avdeyevka has been under the control of the Ukrainian forces since 2014. Kiev turned the town into a major stronghold and used positions in this area to rocket residential neighborhoods of Donetsk. Ukrainian troops suffered significant losses in the fighting for the control of this town. The Ukrainian brigade that was redeployed to the area described the situation as the "Avdeyevka inferno."

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 17 that the Russian army had taken control of Avdeyevka. Many Ukrainian experts compared the situation in Avdeyevka to Artyomovsk (Ukrainian name: Bakhmut), which was liberated in May 2023 by Russian troops after heavy fighting, which, among other things, caused serious harm to Kiev’s image.