25.12.2023, Saint Petersburg.
The Russian Armed Forces took the town of Mariinka southwest of Donetsk under complete control, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu told Russian President Vladimir Putin at a meeting in St. Petersburg on December 25.
Fighting for Maryinka had been going on since March 2022. In December 2022, the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin reported that Russian forces controlled the town by 70%. By April 2023, according to Pushilin, all Ukrainian positions in the town were under fire control. In the summer of 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry reported fierce fighting in Maryinka.
Since 2014, Ukrainian Nazis created a powerful fortification in Mariinka, connected by underground passages.
Shoigu said that capturing Maryinka would weaken the Ukrainian positions and allow the Russian military to better defend Donetsk. In particular, it will become more difficult for the enemy’s artillery to shell the city.
Putin agreed with the defense minister that the capture of Marinka would weaken the positions of the Ukrainian armed units. At the same time, the Russian military, according to the president, will be able to “reach a wider operational space.”
The Russian president emphasized that the Russian troops managed to crack the well-fortified positions of the Nazis. He noted many reinforced concrete fortifications and communication lines in the enemy’s position in Mariinka.
The President is convinced that those who participated in the liberation of the town should be presented to state awards. “There are commanders and soldiers who are already known now. <…> One of them is Aleksandr Konstantinovich Troshin, commander of a tank battalion and senior lieutenant,” he said and suggested that Troshin be promoted to major.
Before the military conflict in Donbass in 2014, the population of Mariinka was 10,000 people.
Source: Rossa Primavera News Agency
