ST. PETERSBURG, December 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the liberation of Maryinka in the Donetsk People’s Republic as a success and expressed gratitude to Russian military servicemen.
"This is a success," the president said at a meeting with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu, after listening to his report about the liberation of the settlement.
Putin congratulated the minister and said to him, "Pass on the warmest congratulations and words of gratitude to all the personnel, all the servicemen who took part at different times, at different stages in the battles to liberate Maryinka."
Putin is going to talk to Shoigu separately to discuss further plans for the special military operation following the liberation of Maryinka. Putin previously said the progress gives Russian forces more room for maneuver in the area.
"We will talk separately about further plans. We talked today with the chief of the General Staff [of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov]. This is a separate topic. We will confer on what to do next," the president said.