Before and After Satellite Images Reveal Destruction of Avdiivka

Imagery taken from space has shown the extent of the devastation wrought on Avdiivka after its capture by Russian troops following months of fierce fighting.

Vladimir Putin's forces launched an offensive in October for the Donetsk oblast city and finally captured it on February 17, although at a huge cost in troops and material. Kyiv's estimate of 17,000 Russian troops dead is higher than the lives lost in the 10-year war Moscow waged in Afghanistan. Newsweek was unable to independently verify Ukraine's statistics.

Satellite images from Maxar posted by Donbass Realities, which is part of the U.S-funded Radio Liberty network, show that Moscow's fruits of victory comprise of rubble and burnt-out buildings. In an image taken on October 16, 2021, four months before Russia's full-scale invasion, trees proliferate between the buildings of the town, which had a pre-war population of around 30,000.

However, the scene on the day when Ukraine announced its retreat from the small city to prevent further troop losses shows a far different story, with smoke rising from a landscape stripped bare of greenery in between shelled-out buildings.

"Completely destroyed: Radio Liberty journalists compared satellite photos of Avdiyivka before the full-scale war and after the occupation by the Russians," Jürgen Nauditt, a pro-Ukrainian X user posted.

Ukraine's retreat from Avdiivka had been widely predicted as its troops faced ammunition shortages. Many blamed a hold-up in the U.S. Congress to agree to further military aid, with some Republicans opposing this.

Following Avdiivka's capture by Russia, Leon Hartwell, senior associate at the London School of Economics think tank LSE IDEAS, said Ukrainian troops operated with an overwhelming disadvantage on the front line.

"In terms of manpower alone, reports suggest Ukrainian forces in Avdiivka were outnumbered by Russian troops 15 to one before the city fell," Hartwell said.

"Putin's readiness to throw Russian troops into the fray with reckless abandon reflects a calculated gamble, predicated on the belief that political uncertainties surrounding Western divisions will eventually erode support for Ukraine, thereby paving the way for its capitulation, mirroring the fate of Avdiivka."

"While Republicans are linking the Russia-Ukraine war with the domestic agenda to score political points, Ukrainians have been dying on the frontlines, including in Avdiivka, while Russia incrementally makes advances on the battlefield," Hartwell said.

A border policy and foreign aid bill that would give $61 billion to Ukraine was obstructed by some Republicans and the U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson when it came to the House after winning bipartisan approval in the Senate.

However, Johnson met privately with Republicans who back military aid to discuss an alternative foreign aid bill in the House, CNN reported on Sunday. The GOP hopes to bring a finalized proposal to a vote by late March or early April.