The Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, announced today the capture of the Ukrainian town of Marinka, Donetsk region, during a meeting with the president, Vladimir Putin, broadcast on public television.
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“As part of the offensive actions of the units of the Southern military group today we completely liberated the town of Marinka,” Shoigu said.
If confirmed, it would be the main advance of Russian troops in more than six months in Ukraine. He highlighted that Márinka, which had almost 10,000 inhabitants before the war, is located five kilometers southwest of the capital of Donetsk.
“What is not a small thing, we have considerably moved the work of the (Ukrainian) artillery away from Donetsk, towards there, towards the west, which will allow us to defend Donetsk more effectively from enemy attacks today,” he stressed.
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Shoigu highlighted that “practically on every street” the Ukrainians had combat positions and a “complex system of tunnels.” which allowed them to resist Russian attacks by land and air.
In turn, he stressed that the liberation of said bastion will reduce the Ukrainian defensive potential and provide the Russian army with “new opportunities for future actions in that direction.”
Shoigu was undoubtedly referring to Avdivka, a city also located in the vicinity of Donetsk and which has been the scene since October of the bloodiest battle of the current war, according to many observers.
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Putin also highlighted that Russian soldiers by destroying the fortified district of Márinka, built by the Ukrainians in 2014, now have the possibility of achieving “a larger operational space.”
The capture of Márinka is the greatest victory of the Russian Army since the conquest in May by the Wagner Group of Bakhmut, a city located further north in the same Donetsk region. Putin has highlighted in recent weeks that his army has the initiative in almost all sectors of the front, which has forced Kiev to go on the defensive and begin building fortifications.
EFE
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