2023-12-26 09:44:30
In the east, something new. The Russian army has taken control of the town of Mariinka, near Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday, an assertion however denied by the Ukrainian army.
A Ukrainian army spokesman, Oleksandr Shtupoun, said it was “incorrect” to say the town was entirely controlled by the Russians. “The fight for Marinka continues,” he said, adding that there were still Ukrainian soldiers in the town, which is “completely destroyed.”
“The town of Marinka, located five kilometers southwest of Donetsk, was completely liberated today,” Sergei Shoigu had previously declared during a television interview with President Vladimir Putin. Mariinka had been transformed by the Ukrainian army into a stronghold since 2014 and the start of a conflict with pro-Russian separatists led by Moscow, who had seized the city of Donetsk in particular.
Russian initiative since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive
According to Sergei Shoigu, Marinka is “a powerful fortified area connected by underground passages” which protect it from artillery and air strikes. “Thanks to the decisive actions of our soldiers, the fortress was cracked,” he said.
Vladimir Putin welcomed the fact that the capture of Marinka keeps Ukrainian troops away from Donetsk, the regional capital under Russian control which has been regularly targeted by Ukrainian bombings since 2014. Russian forces have regained the initiative on the front since the failure of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, nibbling ground particularly in the East. In particular, they have been trying for several months to surround another stronghold, that of Avdiïvka, also in the East.
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