Oleksandr Syrskii says the decision was made to preserve the lives of soldiers and prevent their encirclement.
Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from the frontline town of Avdiivka, the new army chief announced, after months of intense fighting and little progress in repelling Russian forces on the country's eastern front.
“I decided to withdraw our units from the city and go to defense from more favorable lines to avoid encirclement and preserve the life and health of the military,” Oleksandr Syrskii said on Saturday, days after taking command of the Ukrainian army in a big reorganization.
The battle for the industrial center, less than 10 kilometers (six miles) north of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, has been one of the bloodiest of the two-year war. Many compare it to the Battle of Bakhmut, in which tens of thousands of soldiers died.
Russia has been trying to capture the city since October and has surrounded it on three sides, leaving limited resupply routes for Ukrainian forces.
Avdiivka had about 34,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion. Most of the city has since been destroyed, but an estimated 1,000 residents remain, according to local authorities. Videos on social media showed a city reduced to rubble.
“In a situation where the enemy is advancing on the corpses of its own soldiers with a 10 to one bombing advantage, under constant shelling, this is the only correct decision,” said Oleksandr Tarnavsky, army commander in the area of Avdiivka.
Before issuing orders to withdraw from Avdiivka, Tarnavsky said on Friday that several Ukrainian soldiers had been captured by Russian forces.
The city has important symbolic value and Moscow hopes that its capture will make the Ukrainian bombing of Donetsk more difficult. The withdrawal comes ahead of Russian presidential elections scheduled for March, in which incumbent Vladimir Putin will win a fifth term, allowing him to continue leading the invasion of Ukraine.
Avdiivka is located in Ukraine's Donetsk region, which the Kremlin has claimed is part of Russia since a 2022 annexation that remains unrecognized by almost all members of the United Nations.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed security pacts with France and Germany to ensure support for kyiv. He is also expected to make more calls for funding and arms at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.
The 27 countries of the European Union agreed this month on an additional 50 billion euro ($54 billion) aid package for Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden said on Thursday that Avdiivka was at risk of falling into the hands of Russian forces due to a shortage of ammunition following months of Republican opposition in Congress to a new US military aid package for Kiev.
