News anchor-Ukraine's president Zelenskyy has blamed the fall of

Avdiivka, a key town in the east of the country, on a lack of

(1)weapons.Kyiv has pulled its forces out after a lengthy battle.Russian
troops have been on the offensive around Avdiivka for months and tonight
President Putin has congratulated them for taking complete control of the
town. President Zelenskyy said his soldiers had been (2) 10 to 1 and made
an urgent appeal for more weapons from the international community.Our
correspondent, Andrew Harding, sent this report from the Donbas region.

Correspondent-Ukrainian troops film themselves as they withdraw from

Avdiivka. Exhausted after the longest and perhaps the bloodiest battle of
the war
so far. Russian shells still landing close by. In the town center a
Russian flag is raised. And another on a rooftop in one of the town's
industrial areas. The Kremlin is already crowing releasing footage of
Russian (3) in action. Air power has played a big role in this victory.
On the ground Ukrainian forces
have also been struggling with acute shortages of men and in particular
of ammunition. So these are the last two shells that you have?

Soldier-uh yes

Correspondent- This artillery officer told us a week ago, blaming Western

Nations for halting supplies. The result Ukrainian infantry fighting to
hold on to a Avdiivka have been heavily outgunned by as much as ten to
one.And so, eventually, Ukraine ordered a withdrawal. At times Well
organized, but not always. Here a Ukrainian armored vehicle is hit by a
drone. Overall, though, it's Russia that
has suffered by far the heaviest losses here.

Captain Dmytro Lykhovii- Russia has suffered 47,000 (4) in Avdiivka since
last October. Those are huge losses in such circumstances we consider
this a
successful operation.

Correspondent- Outside Avdiivka Ukrainian soldiers are already

reinforcing new
defensive lines and playing down the significance of today's retreat. On
its
own the fall of this one small town won't change the course of the war,
but again Russia has shown its sheer determination, its massive (5) and
its willingness to sustain very heavy casualties. And none of that is
good news for
Ukraine. No wonder, towns nearby are nervous.

Civilian woman- Every day I think about the future not only of this town,
about every town: Pokrovsk, Avdiivka, Konstantynivka, Dnipro, Kyiv.

Correspondent- They may be next

Civilian woman-Yes
Correspondent- for now in Avdiivka the Russians are once more Lords of
the rubble. Andrew Harding, BBC News, Eastern Ukraine.

News anchor- Well, next weekend will mark the second anniversary of
Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Let's take a closer look at what is
happening on the front line in the east of the country. This is what the
East looked like in October last year. The large section of pink shows
the areas where Russia had full military control. The sections covered in
(6) show some Russian control and then the yellow patches denotes more
recent Russian advances. And if we look at the same map today, we can see
how the front line has changed. The pink has (7) the stripes and those
yellow sections have expanded significantly. In
other words, Russian troops are advancing westwards. Let's return to
Andrew Harding in eastern Ukraine and so what does today's news from that
region mean for the wider war, Andrew?

Correspondent-Good evening, Jane. So if you look at the big picture I

think it's clear that both the Russians and the Ukrainians now realize
that this is going to be a very long war. No possibility really of a
quick (8). You may remember that last year Ukraine launched that big
counter-offensive with a lot of western weapons, western tanks and so on.
It failed, it
took back almost no territory largely, because the Russians had (9) and
put so many minefields in their path. Then you've had a bit of a a
stagnant period for the last month or two and now the Russians are having
essentially their turn at trying to break through Ukrainian lines.
They're not making huge progress, but they are trying now, not just in
Avdiivka, but other places north of here to break through. The Ukrainians
have made it clear that they are going to dig in and try and make sure
the Russians suffer huge losses in the coming months and then, the
Ukrainian hope is that they'll get more western weapons, including long
range missiles and including,perhaps, fighter jets and then they at some
point perhaps later this year or even next year will have another go at
trying to (10) all the territory that's still under Russian control.