12/25/2023 10:34 pm (current 12/25/2023 10:40 pm)
Russian President Putin with Defense Minister Shoigu ©APA/AFP/POOL
After months of fighting, the Russian army claims to have occupied the completely destroyed city of Mariinka, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Maryinka is now under Russian control, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Monday in a meeting with President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg. Kyiv denied it. Russia had already attacked with drones and missiles on Christmas Eve. Ukraine's air defense said 28 of 31 drones were shot down.
A video clip of Shoigu's meeting with Putin was released by the Russian Defense Ministry. This information could not be independently verified. Initially there was no official reaction from Kiev. So far, the Ukrainian General Staff has only reported ongoing fighting. The alleged capture of Marjinka, located nearly 30 kilometers southwest of the regional capital Donetsk, will allow the Russian army to make further advances in the region, Putin said. Further advances to the west were now expected. The Kremlin chief, who ordered the brutal war of aggression against the neighboring country almost two years ago, met with Shoigu on the sidelines of a visit to the North Sea Fleet in St. Petersburg. Around 10,000 people lived in Marjinka, but it is now better known as a “ghost town”.
The Ukrainian army had already fortified the city in 2014. At that time, pro-Russian separatists controlled by Moscow took over Donetsk. Shoigu spoke to Putin on Monday about “powerful fortifications” and “underground passages” that Ukraine has built. The fortress was conquered through “the decisive action of our soldiers”. Putin called the capture a “success” because it reduced Ukrainian shelling of Donetsk. Shoigu said the “field of action” of Ukrainian artillery near Donetsk would be “significantly reduced.”
However, Ukraine rejected the allegations. “The battle for Marjinka continues,” the military spokesman in charge of the front sector, Olexander Shtupun, said on television. There are still Ukrainian soldiers within the city limits, even though the city is completely destroyed. The respective information cannot be independently verified.
The Russian army has recently made progress in eastern Ukraine. After the failure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, it regained ground there. Troops have also been trying to surround the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine for several months.
Regarding the Russian airstrikes, air defense officials said that a Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jet was shot down the previous day in the Donetsk region, and the other Su-30CM fighter jet was shot down over the Black Sea. Air defense also reported two missiles and two “enemy fighter jets” being shot down. There was also talk of attacks against enemy positions, including weapons and ammunition depots.
According to the Ukrainian military, the majority of drone strikes over a period of more than six hours occurred in the Odessa area on the Black Sea. Debris from the downed drones caused damage to port infrastructure in Odessa and to an administrative building and unused storage depots in the region. Authorities also reported destruction in the Kherson area and Dnipropetrovsk region. According to the information, there were no injuries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had already asked that national defense not be relaxed at Christmas either. In Ukraine, Christmas was officially celebrated for the first time on December 25, but the holiday was not exempt from work due to martial law. Many Ukrainians continue to celebrate Christmas on January 7, as in Russia, according to the Russian Orthodox Church calendar. Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and has been waging a destructive war of aggression against the neighboring country ever since.
Ukraine now receives 1.22 billion euros from the World Bank, the Ministry of Finance in Kiev reported. “The funds will be used to offset expenses not related to security and defense from the Ukrainian state budget,” explains the ministry. These included social benefits and remuneration for public service employees.