2023-12-26 21:33:45
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Army, Valery Zalouzhny, announced this Tuesday (26) that his forces withdrew to the “outskirts” of Marinka, a city in the east of the country that Moscow claimed the day before it had taken control. . While in the Black Sea, a Russian ship was hit by Ukrainian forces.
Published on: 26/12/2023 – 20:33
3 min
“The fact that we have moved to the outskirts of Marinka and in some cases have already gone beyond the city limits should not cause a public outcry,” Zaluzhny said at a press conference. According to him, Ukrainian soldiers are still in the northern part of the city, but their forces “have prepared a line of defense outside this location” to retreat. Marinka “no longer exists” due to the destruction, he added.
On Monday (25), Russia claimed to have taken control of this city, located five kilometers southwest of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine.
Since 2014 and the start of the conflict with pro-Russian separatists led by Moscow, Marinka had been transformed into a stronghold for the Ukrainian Army to combat Russian rule in Donetsk.
President Vladimir Putin on Monday welcomed the capture of Marinka which he said kept Ukrainian artillery away from Donetsk and allowed Moscow forces to “have a wider operational space” in the area.
Victory at sea
Russia confirmed on Tuesday that one of its ships was damaged in an attack by Kiev on annexed Crimea. The news was welcomed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin was informed by his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu of the “damage” suffered by the ship Novocherkassk during this attack, according to a statement to the press by Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov, who did not comment further.
Quoted by the RIA Novosti agency, the Russian Defense Ministry indicated that the vessel was “damaged overnight in an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces with cruise missiles” in the city of Feodosia.
The ship Novocherkassk destroyed by the Ukrainian Army on the morning of December 26, 2023 in the port of Feodessia, Crimea. © Reuters
The Ukrainian army claims to have “destroyed” this ship, which it claims is carrying Iranian-made Shahed drones, frequently used by Moscow in the conflict.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hinted that the ship had been sunk, sarcastically praising the work of his air force “for the impressive addition of a new ship to the Russian submarine fleet in the Black Sea.
The attack also left one dead and two injured, in addition to damaging six buildings, according to Crimea’s governor, Sergei Aksionov.
This attack on a Russian ship is a success for Ukraine, which seeks to prove that it can keep Moscow’s military fleet off its shores, even if it cannot make the Russians retreat.
A peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, Crimea is regularly the target of attacks as it is an important area for Russian Army logistics. Kiev’s successful operations in the Black Sea constitute one of its few major military successes.
(With information from AFP)
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