Ukraine has withdrawn outnumbered troops from the southeastern part of the city of Avdiivka.

Soldiers were moving from destroyed positions and entrenching themselves in new lines of defence, said Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander of Ukraine’s southeastern sector.

Capturing the eastern city is seen as key to Moscow’s aim of securing full control of the two provinces that make up the industrial Donbas region.

Ukraine’s decision came amid escalating battles, said Mr Tarnavskyi.

“In a difficult battlefield situation, when only ruins and a pile of broken bricks remain from the fortification, our priority is to save the soldiers’ lives.”

“The enemy launches massive bomb attacks day and night, and does not stop attacking simultaneously from several directions,” he added. 

Heavy fighting continues on the frontline and Russia keeps “practically wiping the city from the face of the earth”, he said.

He insisted the withdrawal did not give Russia “a strategic advantage and does not change the situation in the Avdiivka defence operation”.