According to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, the Russian army took the small town of Mariinka, in eastern Ukraine. Mariinka, located five kilometers southwest of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk, was “completely liberated today,” Shoigu said in a televised conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The capture of Maryinka, which Ukraine has converted into a fortress, will facilitate the advance of Moscow's troops westward.
The Ukrainian military rejected the Russian statements. “Our forces are still in the city,” an army spokesman said on television. The respective information cannot be independently verified.
Income for Putin’s “success”
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.”
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.