kyiv announces a withdrawal of its troops on the outskirts of Marinka, a town that Russia says it has captured

Ukrainian troops remain on the lookout in Marinka. The commander-in-chief of the country’s armed forces, General Valery Zalouzhny, told the press on Tuesday, December 26, that his soldiers had “removed” from this small town in the south-east of Ukraine, at the heart of violent fighting with the Russian army for many weeks. Units of the Ukrainian army remain entrenched on the edge of the city, he said.

“The fact that we have moved to the outskirts of Marinka and in some places we have already exceeded the boundaries of the locality should not cause an outcry,” urged the head of the Ukrainian army, before declaring that the town “does not exist anymore” in view of the destruction.

The day before, Moscow had claimed to have taken control of this locality. “The locality of Marinka (…) was completely liberated today”declared Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during a television interview with President Vladimir Putin. “Thanks to the decisive actions of our soldiers, the fortress was cracked”he congratulated himself, about a city described as “a powerful fortified area connected by underground passages” which protect it from artillery and air strikes. Marinka had been transformed by the Ukrainian army into a stronghold since 2014 and the start of a conflict with pro-Russian separatists led by Moscow, who had seized in particular the city of Donetsk.