Why can Putin still continue? – February 19 Ukraine War Update

General description

• Moscow forces raise flag over Avdiivka and Ukraine retreats to prepared positions
• Ukraine shoots down another Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber that allegedly “kamikazed” in a Ukrainian civilian neighborhood
• Ukrainians remember the “Heavenly Hundred” on the 10th anniversary
• President Zelensky tells the world not to ask Ukraine when the war will end, but to ask Putin

The Kremlin captures the besieged city of Avdiivka in Moscow’s first major advance in months.

Russian soldiers attacked several times west of Avdiivka, which was recently taken, in an attempt to gain more ground, a Ukrainian army spokesman said on Sunday.

Due to a shortage of manpower and ammunition, Ukraine had to withdraw from the industrial center in the eastern Donetsk region, giving Moscow its first significant territorial gain in the war since May 2023.

“The enemy is actively pushing its attack,” Dmytro Lykhoviy, spokesman for the commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, said on state television on Sunday.

The Ukrainian general staff reported 14 failed Russian attacks on the village of Lastochkyneabout two kilometers west of Avdiivka. Lykhoviy suggested that Ukrainian forces are strongly positioned there.

There were also unsuccessful Russian attacks near the villages of Robotyne and Verbove in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

He said it would be “very difficult” for Russia to break through there, given the heavy Ukrainian defensive lines and the topography of the terrain.

“The situation in the Zaporizhzhia sector is stable… No positions have been lost,” he said on state television on Sunday.

Image from WarMapper.org of X (formerly Twitter).

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), after the fall of Avdiivka into Russian hands:

“Ukrainian forces will probably be able to establish new defensive lines not far beyond Avdiivka, which will likely lead to the culmination of the Russian offensive in this area. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) stated on February 18 that elements of the Russian Central Grouping of Forces completely captured Avdiivka, advancing 8.6 km deep into the area and that Russian forces continue offensive operations to capture additional territory in the region from Donetsk.

“Several Russian milbloggers claimed on February 18 that Ukrainian forces lack well-prepared defensive positions west of Avdiivka and that Russian forces will be able to advance further into western Donetsk Oblast behind ‘terrorized’ and ‘disorganized’ Ukrainian forces.” who are withdrawing from Avdiivka.

“ISW has not yet observed images of disorderly withdrawals from Ukraine to support these Russian claims and would expect to observe such images if the withdrawal were disorderly on a large scale, given the normal patterns of Russian sources with access to such material.

“A Russian milblogger claimed that a large-scale collapse of the Avdiivka front is ‘unlikely’ as Ukrainian forces retreat to prepared defensive lines, however, indicating that Russian understanding (or presentation) of Ukrainian defensive capabilities in this sector of the front it differs from source to source.”

Kyiv Post has updated information on the current situation west of Avdiivka here.

Ukraine shoots down six Sukhoi fighter-bombers in three days

The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) claim to have shot down six Russian fighter jets in less than 72 hours.

Early Sunday morning, a video of a plane, supposedly a Russian Su-34, crashing in the Luhansk region circulated on social media.

Ukrainian defenders “shot down” another Russian Su-34 fighter-bomber on Sunday morning, according to Mykola Oleshchuk, commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, quoted by news outlet RBC Ukraine.

Some reports indicate that the pilot, aware of his final destination, may have intentionally crashed into a civilian neighborhood.

According to a report in Ukrainska Pravda:

“A Russian pilot has flown his seriously damaged plane towards the villages of Antratsyt, according to the Luhansk Regional Military Administration.

Artem Lysohor, head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, reported that the fighter jet had first dropped several units of guided bombs on the positions of the Ukrainian defenders on February 17.

Quote from Lysohor: “And when (the plane) was hit, he (the pilot) was thinking only of himself, as he piloted the damaged fighter plane.

“That is why he directed the plane towards the Antratsyt settlements in the occupied Luhansk region, not towards fields and forests.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that “residents of the village of Dyakove saw this Russian fighter plane killing civilians.”

Earlier today, the AFU reportedly shot down two more Russian fighters. The details of these two commitments are not yet known.

On Saturday, February 17, Ukrainian forces reportedly shot down three Russian fighter jets (two Su-34s and one Su-35) over the Donetsk region.

The Sukhoi Su-34 (NATO reporting name: Fullback) is Russia’s most important front-line fighter-bomber.

Its primary mission as designed is to deliver laser-guided bombs or long-range guided missiles in precision strikes against ground targets; however, it also carries advanced radars and can be equipped with modern air-to-air missiles.

At a cost of around $36 million each, the aircraft is one of the most expensive in the Russian military.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces claims to have shot down 335 Russian military aircraft since February 24, 2022.

Ukrainian air defense also destroyed 12 Shahed attack drones and one Kh-59 cruise missile in separate incidents.

Ukraine remembers the “Heavenly Hundred” who were killed during the Maidan Nezalezhnosti protests 10 years ago this week

An evening memorial service in memory of the Hundred Heavenly Heroes was held on February 18 in St. Michael’s Cathedral.

After the memorial service in the cathedral, a traditional procession of monuments began from St. Michael’s Cathedral to the Alley of the Hundred Heavenly.

A Kyiv Post journalist recalls a text message received on the morning of February 19, 2014 from a Ukrainian student learning English from the then language teacher in the capital: “I can’t come today. “My boyfriend died.”

He was a student who died overnight in the deadly sniper attack by Yanukovych’s Berkut special police on protests on the Maidan.

At a memorial service the following Sunday, his photograph was displayed from the Maidan stage after the pro-Russian dictator fled to Rostov-on-Don. It was the last photograph taken by his girlfriend before he was shot dead in the opening shots of what became the Russo-Ukrainian war.

President Zelensky asks the Munich Security Conference to ask how Putin can continue in Ukraine

According to The Guardian, President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Please don’t ask Ukraine when the war will end. Ask yourself: why can Putin still continue with this?” as he addressed delegates at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

Zelensky shared a video of the speech online and also wrote: “We can take back our land. And Putin can lose.”