The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, announced Tuesday that his forces had withdrawn to the “outskirts” of Marinka, a town in the east of the country which Moscow claimed the day before to have taken control of.
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“ The fact that we have moved to the outskirts of Marinka and in some places have already exceeded the boundaries of the locality, should not cause public outcry “, Valery Zaluzhny said at a press conference. According to him, Ukrainian soldiers are still in the northern part of the city, but his forces have “ prepared a line of defense outside this locality » to fall back on. Marinka « does not exist anymore » in view of the destruction, he said.
Russia claimed Monday to have taken control of this town located five kilometers southwest of Donetsk, the main town under Russian occupation in the region. Vladimir Putin on Monday welcomed the capture of Marinka which, according to him, kept Ukrainian artillery away from Donetsk and allowed Moscow’s forces to ” have a larger operational space ” in the zone.
Marinka 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 in particular the city of Donetsk.
Avdiïvka, another stronghold besieged by Moscow
Valery Zalouzhny estimated on Tuesday that Russia had “ today the strength to concentrate its efforts to destroy a city like Bakhmut in three months », in reference to the longest and deadliest battle of the war. Russia captured the town of Bakhmut, also in the east, last May at the cost of enormous destruction. She has been besieging for months another stronghold of Donbass, Avdiïvka, hoping to surround it. “ I fully understand that our fighters are doing a very difficult job in extremely difficult conditions », added Valery Zalouzhny.
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(With AFP)