Ukrainian forces have retreated from the destroyed town of Marinka in the eastern Donbas region, Kyiv has said, confirming its first loss of a major town since May.
General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s most senior military commander, admitted the loss on Tuesday after other Ukrainian officials initially denied that Russian forces had captured the town.
“There is nothing controversial about the fact that Ukrainian soldiers have stepped back to the outskirts of the town of Marinka,” he insisted.
Video and photos show the town to be utterly destroyed after nearly two years of continuous heavy fighting. The Kremlin claimed on Dec 25 that it had captured the town, its most significant battlefield victory since Wagner mercenary forces captured Bakhmut in May.
Pro-Moscow rebels celebrate
Pro-Russia rebel forces in Donetsk have already issued a commemorative stamp for the conquest featuring a swallow that they said represents “rebirth and renewal”.
Gen Zaluzhnyi said that it made tactical sense to retreat to more defensible positions.
“This is a war, so the fact that we have now retreated to the outskirts of Marinka and set up positions behind Marinka in some areas is nothing that can cause any public outcry,” he said.
Analysts have said that Marinka’s main strategic value to Russia is that it will allow Russian forces to turn their attacks against stronger Ukrainian forces to the south. It will also dent the already low morale among Ukrainian forces and Western allies, who are disappointed by Ukraine’s failed Nato-backed counteroffensive over the summer.
Russians ‘break chemical weapons pact’
Gen Zaluzhnyi has struck a more downbeat tone compared to other Ukrainian officials over the past few months, describing the war as a stalemate. Although Russian forces have been on the offensive, the New York Times has reported that the Kremlin is increasingly open to a ceasefire deal.
On the southern front line, Russian forces have been accused of dropping grenades filled with tear gas on Ukrainian marines who have recaptured a fishing village on the occupied left bank of the Dnipro River.
Analysts said that Russia has been dropping the K-51 grenades packed with CS gas in breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention since their initial invasion in 2014 to “smoke out” Ukrainian soldiers.