Ukrainian Army Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi acknowledged that his troops had withdrawn to the outskirts of Marinka, a town on the outskirts of Donetsk that Russia claimed capture on Monday. An admission that comes on the same day Kiev claimed to have destroyed a Russian ship in an attack on the Crimean peninsula, although Moscow says the ship was only damaged.
“The fact that we have moved to the outskirts of Marinka and that in some places we have already crossed the boundaries of the place should not provoke public protests,” Zaluzhnyi said at a news conference, confirming information provided by Moscow on Monday . that his army had captured this stronghold from Kiev’s forces in the east of the country.
Valerii Zaluzhnyi further compared the attack on Marinka to the complete destruction of Bakhmut by Russian soldiers. “We protect every piece of our country, every piece, but if enemy projectiles start filling that narrow stretch with rocks, dirt and our soldiers, then the lives of our troops will be the most important thing,” the commander-in-chief explained. head of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
In the words of Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Marinka is “a powerful fortified area, connected by underground passages” that protect it from artillery and air attacks and that “thanks to the decisive actions of our soldiers the fortress was destroyed,” he said . . “The liberation of the city naturally reduces the defense capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and gives us more opportunities to continue our action in this direction,” Sergei Shoigu added.
Vladimir Putin also welcomed the fact that control of Marinka will keep Ukrainian forces away from Donetsk, the regional capital under Russian control, which has been regularly targeted by Ukrainian shelling since 2014. .) and because of this, Donetsk can now be more effectively defended against attacks,” the Russian president emphasized.
Second attack on ship
Further south, Ukraine announced it had destroyed the Russian ship Novocherkassk in an attack on the Crimean Peninsula. The commander of the Ukrainian Air Force, Lieutenant General Mikola Oleschuk, stated that the Russian fleet is “getting smaller” and thanked the air force pilots and everyone involved in the operation.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, the attack took place when tactical aviation “attacked with cruise missiles the large landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation Novocherkassk in the Feodosia region”, in eastern Crimea. In the images published on Telegram it is possible to see a large fire in the port, with the Ukrainian army noting that “the ship was sunk today”.
The first attack attempt on this Russian landing ship took place on March 24, 2022 in the port of the occupied city of Berdiansk, causing only damage.
According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin was informed by the Defense Minister about the damage suffered by the Novocherkassk, and the Defense Ministry, cited by Russian agency RIA Novosti, said only that the ship was damaged overnight. in the event of an attack by the Ukrainian armed forces with cruise missiles”.
The governor of the so-called “Republic of Crimea”, Sergei Aksionov, said the attack on Feodosia caused one death and two injuries. Six buildings were also damaged and many residents fled the city, home to a major commercial port on the Black Sea.
Reports from British authorities show that after the attack on Novocherkassk, Ukraine has already destroyed 20% of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. On the social network “They haven’t noticed that in the last four months 20% of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been destroyed,” Shapps continued.
According to this official, the new maritime coalition, led by Great Britain and Norway, contributes to Ukraine’s victory at sea.
with agencies
Source: DN
