Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi published a statement announcing his decision to withdraw Ukrainian units from the heavily battered city.

"Based on the operational situation around Avdiivka, in order to avoid encirclement and preserve the lives and health of servicemen, I made a decision to withdraw our units from the city and move to defense on more advantageous lines," the statement reads.

"Our soldiers performed their military duty with dignity, did everything possible to destroy the best Russian military units, and inflicted significant losses on the enemy in terms of manpower and equipment."