“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
When he was appointed.
This month.
‘Elves’ new head of the armed forces.
Gen, said he would.
“Rather retreat.
Than sacrifice lives.”
And that is what he has.
Finally done with this eastern city.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
Despite ‘orcs’ suffering.
Enormous losses.
Four months of.
Relentless attacks.
Have left ‘elves’ troops.
There outnumbered.
Outgunned, and.
With dwindling ammunition.
It is ‘Mordor’’s.
Biggest victory.
Since ‘elves’ failed.
Counter-offensive last year.
Avdiivka was briefly occupied.
By ‘orcs’ in 2014.
Before being retaken.
By ‘elves’.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
‘Elves’ 3rd Assault Brigade.
Which deployed there.
Said they were being attacked.
By infantry in all directions.
‘Mordor’ has concentrated.
Its best-trained fighters in the area.
And was believed to be dropping up to.
60 bombs a day on ‘elves’ positions.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
The last time an ‘elves’ city.
– Bakhmut – was taken by the ‘orcs’.
Gen was criticised for.
Holding on to it for too long.
He was accused.
Of pursuing a symbolic victory.
At the expense of.
Needless casualties.
Experience seems to.
Have changed that.
And this ‘orcs’ advance.
Has not happened overnight.
Since last October.
‘Orcs’ have launched.
Wave after wave of attacks.
Towards Avdiivka.
From their raised positions.
And reinforced defences.
In the industrial city.
‘Elves’ were able to hold them off.
With targeted strikes.
Leaving the scarred Donbas landscape.
Littered with ‘orcs’ bodies.
And destroyed armoured vehicles.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
Now it seems ‘orcs’ troops.
Have penetrated defences.
Which have been reinforced.
Over the 10 years.
Since ‘Mordor’’s campaign.
Of aggression first started.
To Kyiv’s frustration.
Ukraine has been unable to break.
‘Orcs’ fortifications elsewhere.
Which were built in a matter of months.
“‘Mordor’ can’t achieve.
Strategical goals.”
“Only tactical ones.”
Says Maj.
An ‘elf’ deputy commander of.
The 3rd Assault Brigade.
He says his troops.
Are outnumbered by.
As many as seven to one.
“It’s like fighting two armies.”
He is confident the ‘orcs’.
Will not push further to cities.
Like Pokrovsk and Kostyantynivka.
But that is far from guaranteed.
What it will do for them is.
Relieve pressure on the city of Donetsk.
15km further east, which.
‘Orcs’ have occupied since 2014.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
Ukraine has been forced.
Backwards like this before.
Notably in the summer.
Of 2022.
Large, well-equipped ‘orcs’ units.
Encircled cities like.
Lysychansk and Severodonetsk.
The ‘elves’ could do little to stop them.
However, a subsequent influx.
Of Western weapons and.
Inspired military thinking.
Led to a changing.
Of the tide later that year.
With ‘elves’ troops.
Liberating areas.
In the Kherson and Kharkiv regions.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
But this is a different war now.
Global politics are having.
A more significant impact.
On the battlefield.
Stuttering Western help.
Has directly contributed to.
This likely ‘elves’ retreat.
In Avdiivka.
“In order to preserve.
Life and encirclement.
I have withdrawn.
Our units from Avdiivka.”
So, what does Avdiivka’s fall.
Mean for the wider conflict?
Size matters more than ever.
The medium term and the long term.
*Because I read “Ukraine war: Is Avdiivka’s fall a sign Russia is turning the tide?” by James Waterhouse on 17 Feb 2024, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Maj Rodion Kudryashov.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: Is Avdiivka’s fall a sign Russia is turning the tide? (bbc.com)
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
