by Dmitry Astrakhan
The long history of the battles for Mar'inka ended with the victory of Russian weapons. Some are already ironic about yet another victory in the battles for an unknown “forester’s hut”; others are celebrating the liberation of the city. Let’s not act out scenes from the film epic “Liberation” and, bending over the map, point out that sometimes even a hut has an operational significance. Let's figure out what kind of city Mar'inka is and why it is so important, especially for Donetsk residents.
Donbass is a region with special terrain and urbanization, unique in many ways. Very large cities were formed from many mining and factory settlements, and continued to grow, turning into large agglomerations. Moreover, the boundaries between them are also quite arbitrary and blurred; often one settlement begins immediately on the border of the previous one. There are simply no “fields” between cities in the Donetsk region as such. For example, in peacetime (until 2014) it was possible to drive from Avdievka to Mar'inka without leaving the highway.
Mar'inka is not just a satellite city of Donetsk, it is directly adjacent to the Petrovsky district of the city. By the time the front line was stabilized in 2015, the border between the DPR and Ukraine ran straight between Donetsk and Mar'inka. And the small “gray zone” was finally captured by the enemy under the cover of the Minsk agreements. As a result, Mar'inka became an ideal stronghold from which, given the heights, it was possible to fire at the Petrovsky district even from heavy machine guns. Therefore, the hope for a relative weakening of the shelling of a large part of Donetsk lay in the liberation of Marinka. Moreover, Marinka itself has always been perceived as an integral part of Donetsk Petrovka.
The battles for Mar'inka began in the early spring of 2022, when units of the then NM DPR broke through into the city and gained a foothold in the private sector. In addition to dense buildings, battles in the city are complicated by waste heaps (dumps of old mines). Further battles took place literally for every house, many of which Ukrainian troops turned into fortifications.
After more than a year of fighting, the last meters of Mar'inka have been liberated, but Donetsk remains under fire. The enemy continues to control the city of Krasnohorivka, another of Donetsk’s satellites north of Mar'inka, and battles for it are still ahead. Petrovsky and Kirovsky districts of Donetsk, the villages of Aleksandrovka and Staromikhailovka remain under fire, often without electricity and water; in addition, due to the proximity of the front, it is impossible to restore destroyed buildings and infrastructure there. Mar'inka itself, after many months of active fighting and artillery work, was practically not preserved; there were no entire buildings and structures left there.
Fighting is still ongoing on the outskirts of Donetsk and the creation of a safe zone around the capital of the DPR is still far away. In many places in the Donetsk direction, the fighting is still close to the old front line from the Minsk era. Even in Mar'inka, the “old zero”, the former line of combat contact in 2022, in many places it is necessary to pass on foot, the front line is too close. The Donetsk fortified area was one of the enemy’s main lines of prepared defense according to Ukrainian plans for the future “Croatian scenario” of the destruction of Donbass. In these places, the Ukrainians initially expected to be on the defensive and prepared for this, unlike Mariupol or the Lugansk region.
There are no less difficult sections ahead; holding on to the Donetsk region is important for Ukraine not only from a military, but also from an ideological point of view. Therefore, one should not expect Ukrainian forces to withdraw to other lines.
| More from Regnum: |
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
Russian troops have completely liberated Mar'inka in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR). Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported this to President Vladimir Putin on December 25.
“The capture of Mar'inka in the DPR gives Russian troops the opportunity for further action,” Shoigu said.
The Minister of Defense reported to the head of state that the liberation of Mar'inka makes it possible to more effectively protect Donetsk from the fire of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). This also allowed the Russian military to significantly push Ukrainian artillery away from Donetsk.
Shoigu especially noted the actions of the military of the famous 150th division and invited the head of state to award state awards to those who distinguished themselves during the liberation of Mar'inka.
As Regnum reported , on December 13, aerial reconnaissance officer of the 72nd separate mechanical brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Nikolai Voroshnov said that the Russian Armed Forces had completely liberated the village of Mar'inka in the DPR. According to the Ukrainian military, after Avdievka, the Russian military will throw all its forces into a breakthrough in the direction of Kurakhovo-Ugledar.
Before this, on December 10, it became known that units of the Russian Armed Forces raised the Russian flag over Mar'inka. Then it was reported that Russian assault groups were gaining a foothold, strengthening positions and conducting reconnaissance of the nearest forest belt and the settlement of Georgievka.
In May, Russian military units completed the liberation of Artyomovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic. The operation to free him began on October 8, 2022. It lasted 224 days.
Not so fast, say the Ukrainians. More from lb.ua
Russians did not capture Maryinka and have considerable losses near Avdiyivka, - the spokesman of the Defense Forces of the Tavria direction.
The enemy's personnel regularly tightens.
by Vera Perun
The Russians did not capture Maryinka, the fighting for the city continues.
Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesman for the United Press Center of the Defense Forces of the Tavria Region, announced this on the air of the telethon.
"Battles for Maryinka continue. Currently, our servicemen are in the administrative borders of Maryinka, but the city has been completely destroyed. But it is incorrect to talk about the complete capture of Maryinka," Shtupun emphasized.
This is how the Ukrainian military reacted to the fake statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense, which reported on the apparently.
As for the situation in Avdiivka, the Ukrainian fighters there are firmly holding the defense and inflicting considerable losses on the Russians.
"There is always a threat of encirclement, of a breakthrough. But we are raising reserves, we are reforming, we are inflicting losses on the enemy every day. He is losing 300-400 men dead and wounded and a lot of military equipment," the spokesman added.
According to him, the Russians are increasing reserves, in particular, equipment. But it is no longer of the same quality as it was. The enemy's personnel regularly tightens.
In the morning briefing on December 25 , the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that in the Marinsk direction, the Defense Forces continue to hold back the enemy in the areas of Marinka and Novomykhailivka of the Donetsk region, where our defenders repelled 5 attacks.