NYT reports hundreds of Ukrainian prisoners during withdrawal from Avdiivka, Ukraine’s Armed Forces deny it
Pravda Ukraine
The New York Times has published an article claiming that “hundreds of Ukrainian troops may have been captured or disappeared” during the recent withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka.
Source: The New York Times; Dmytro Lykhovii, Head of the Public Relations Department of the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group, on air during the 24/7 national joint newscast
Details: The New York Times cites “two soldiers with knowledge of Ukraine’s retreat” as the source of this information. These two soldiers said that it could be 850-1,000 of their brothers-in-arms. “The Western officials said that range seemed accurate,” the publication said.
Commenting on this data, the Tavriia Operational Strategic Group said that the New York Times had spread the Russian narrative without any justification.
Quote from Lykhovii: “We were unpleasantly surprised by this article because we gave our commentary on this matter, which was based on some facts and it seemed that everything should make perfect sense. But unfortunately, either deliberately or accidentally, the New York Times spread the Russian narrative without any justification. The sources they cite are completely unreliable because there are no such people and those are not facts.
During the final stage of the Avdiivka defence operation, the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not hide or deny that a number of soldiers did not get in touch [with their command]. They are missing, they may be prisoners of war, but some of them end up on our side, who then get in touch and go to their units.
Russian propaganda statements about hundreds and thousands of prisoners are complete disinformation, which is not confirmed by anything.”
Background:
- On 17 February, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi announced the withdrawal of Ukrainian troops from Avdiivka.
- On the same day, the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade reported that most of the Ukrainian military had left Avdiivka and there was no information about large number of Ukrainian captives.
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