Hard-Pressed Ukrainian Forces Stage Partial Withdrawal from Avdiivka

After months of fierce fighting, Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from parts of Avdiivka in eastern Donetsk, according to Kyiv officials. “Maneuvers are underway in some places to withdraw our units to more advantageous positions,” Dmytro Lykhoviy, a Ukrainian military spokesman, said on Feb. 15. “Supplies to Avdiivka—and evacuations from there—remain difficult,” he added in televised comments. Fighting has raged in the town since last October, with Russian forces seeking to encircle it and the Ukrainian troops that remain there. Russian forces have surrounded Avdiivka on three sides—from the north, east, and south—thereby threatening Ukraine’s increasingly vulnerable supply lines....