BEIJING, February 19. /TASS/. The battle of Avdeyevka showed that the Kiev regime lacks enough troops and firepower to fight Russia, Chinese military expert Wei Dongxu said on Monday.
"The battle of Avdeyevka showed that Ukraine does not have enough troops and firepower to defend the stronghold, while Russia has enough resources to launch attacks from different directions," The Global Times quoted the Beijing-based expert as saying.
As Russia is trying to expand its advantage step by step, Ukraine is being confronted with more and more difficult fights, the paper said, citing other Chinese experts.
Analysts told the paper that over the past two years China had always played "a responsible role without bias and prejudice to help the conflicting parties to seek common ground and avoid escalation, which is totally different from the US-led West's adding fuel to the flames."
Russia has lately gained advantages to decide whether to carry on the offensive or "just defend the territories under its control," observers told the paper.
As experts pointed out, no matter what happens in the battlefield, China's stance of promoting dialogue and creating conditions for peace talks will not change, the paper said.
"But to what extent peace talks can take place also depends on how many further interruptions the US-led West may make," experts told the paper.
As Russia’s Defense Ministry reported, Russian troops fully liberated the city of Avdeyevka located 13 km north of Donetsk on February 17 and advanced by 8.6 km. The Ukrainian army’s losses in the battle of Avdeyevka amounted to more than 1,500 troops over just one day, it said.