I was very positively surprised that Sirksky gave the order in time. He gave it extremely late (so much so that some wounded had to be abandoned and we have film of RU soldiers torturing and then executing the ones in Zenit) and withdrawal was chaotic but that was always going to happen when they don’t have enough artillery. In any case, majority got out, despite UA having to leave their dead behind. It is very significant. RU really threw the kitchen sink to close the cauldron, but failed and that is fucking great.
As for Russian executions of POWs, more of that here from Robotyne area:
https://twitter.com/nexta_tv/status/1759936871205916690
At least they didn’t get tortured to death 
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1760044262018691168
https://twitter.com/NOELreports/status/1760071966621401568
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1760072013274648664
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1760065925200396448
A good hit. 2 Russian companies were all hit with 65 dead so far. Everyone else wounded (according tot he Russian guy filming and talking, but can’t be treated as 100 percent accurate source).
RU officer had them lined up in a field…
Would you consider that a win, leaving it so late and inflicting the damage that they did on the Russian forces, or do you still think they should have pulled out sooner?
Yes, it was somewhat of a surprise, because one of the armchair interpretations of Zaluzhnyi’s disagreement with Zelensky was that it was an implicit disagreement with Sirksky about holding the line. This suggests that it was not quite as fundamental a part of the rift, or that regardless of views, the Ukrainian high command under Sirksky is still able to make realistic assessments.
His previous work has been hopeless battles where he did not order a reatret before his forces were encircled and so had to break out (debaltseve, Lyschansk, Sierverodonetsk) and defending Bakhmut after op encirclement and losses favoured Russia. He is known for “heroic defence” and kept telling us this summer that he had Bakhmut encircled with his mindless attacks that wasted the 47th brigade.
Him not letting his entire Adviivka force be destroyed is maybe not enough to lionise him.
But we’lll see. But yes, the man isn’t an idiot. It’s just that he has a reputation of not pushing back against politicians and not telling them hard truths, as well as heroic defence.
Him starting the job with getting the Avdiivka army annihilated for no gain would honestly maybe have led to a military coup.
If it’s loss ratio we are going for them, they probably pulled out a bit late. But time is a factor too, and UKraine has for some reason failed to prepare defensive lines west of Avdiivka despite having had a year to build them. Work only started in late novmenber/december, so holding Avdiivka long enough for there to be some sort of defenses was also a priority.
Another nice hit today
https://twitter.com/DefMon3/status/1760422404814159960
https://twitter.com/Archer83Able/status/1760511935169114546
Free to read.
An absolutely awesome evening and night in Ukraine and not so much for the VKS 
https://twitter.com/OAlexanderDK/status/1761169706524742116
https://twitter.com/OAlexanderDK/status/1761168817806258503
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761080149343113429
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761080881970647199
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761083036098003107
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761085051549127037
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761086294212452572
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761090718016102587
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1761094657000309177
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1761097335012983011
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1761097339970687125
https://twitter.com/Osinttechnical/status/1761101900420681779
Oh, it’s a fine night really.
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761183491578810497
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761186870732464288
https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1761190465813024979
https://twitter.com/Maks_NAFO_FELLA/status/1761192381859172366
Let us just slowly enjoy the movie once again, imagining the chaos inside the A-50 as a missile is heading towards them and they fire flare, knowing they are all dead if the missile hits.
https://twitter.com/wartranslated/status/1761086281893687500
A very interesting piece here about the strategic significance of Sweden joining NATO. Free to read.
It’s a pity that all this huge money will have to be put on machines and equipment designed to kill human beings, instead of going towards truly productive goals, but there is no choice I guess… Putin has made that choice for us.
Yes. This is no time for hand wringing.
Appeasement has been tried, and it failed.