LUGANSK, December 13. /TASS/. Russian troops have tightly encircled the city of Maryinka in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Vitaly Kiselyov, an aide to the Lugansk People’s Republic’s interior minister, said on Tuesday.
"Fighting for the city continues in Maryinka (the DPR). The enemy is offering resistance," he wrote on Telegram. "The city is tightly encircled and fighting is underway in the city center," Kiselyov added.
"The Russian Armed Forces are gaining a foothold in the liberated area. The Krasnogorovka highway, which was used for the delivery of supplies to Ukrainian troops stationed in Maryinka, is now under Russian forces’ control," Kiselyov added.
Acting DPR Head Denis Pushilin said earlier in an interview with TASS that Maryinka was one of the crucial areas. He pointed out that the city was being cleared of Ukrainian fortified positions.
On March 19, the DPR People’s Militia launched an operation to liberate Maryinka, a city west of Donetsk, from where Ukrainian forces kept shelling Donetsk. Earlier, the DPR defense authority said that the liberation of Maryinka would put certain parts of the DPR capital (Alexandrovka, the Petrovsky and Tekstilshchik districts) out of reach of Ukrainian artillery units. Pushilin noted that Russian forces currently controlled 70% of the city.