Ukraine pulls troops out of encircled town after militant assault

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ukraine pulled thousands of troops out of an encircled town on Wednesday, Feb 18 after a massive assault by pro-Russian militants, who ignored a new ceasefire to seize the strategic railway junction, Reuters reports.

The fall of the besieged town of Debaltseve was one of the worst defeats of the war for Ukraine's troops, who proved unable to stop an advance by pro-Russian militants fighting for territory called "New Russia".

President Petro Poroshenko told security chiefs on Wednesday night that six Ukrainian soldiers had been killed during the pullout from Debaltseve. "According to preliminary data, six Ukrainian heroes were killed during the withdrawal, more than 100 were wounded," he said, according to Interfax news agency.

Twenty-two Ukrainian soldiers had earlier been killed in the town in the past few days, the Ukrainian military high command said, with more than 150 wounded.

Poroshenko, who flew to the frontline, nevertheless tried to cast the battle in a positive light, saying that by holding out as long as they had, Ukraine's troops had exposed "the true face of the bandits and separatists who are supported by Russia".

The Ukrainian troops had held out for three days beyond the start of a Europe-brokered ceasefire, forcing the militants to disavow the truce to pursue their advance on the town.

Ukrainian troops, their faces blackened, some in columns, some in cars, arrived in Artemivsk, about 30 km (20 miles) north of Debaltseve in government-held territory.

Fighting did not halt with the retreat. A Reuters correspondent near Debaltseve saw black smoke rising over the town and heard loud blasts hours after the withdrawal began.

"One hundred and sixty-seven wounded have been taken to Artemivsk. They did not pick up a lot of bodies. I don't know the total figure," Semen Semenchenko, who heads the Donbass paramilitary battalion, said on Facebook.

Eighty percent of the troops had withdrawn from the town by morning, Poroshenko said, and the rest were leaving in what he described as a planned and orderly withdrawal. He said the force withdrawing numbered more than 2,000 men.

The militants described the battle as a victory and said they let the Ukrainian troops leave only after they were defeated.

"There were no attempts by Ukrainian forces to break through. The surrounded Ukrainian forces were completely demoralized. They lost their direction. They began shooting at residential areas of Debaltseve," said a senior militant commander, Eduard Basurin.