Before the war, Marjinka in Donetsk Oblast in eastern Ukraine was a peaceful town of about 9,000 people, with a cinema and a cathedral. Now practically no one lives there anymore. Months of Russian artillery fire reduced Marjinka to rubble. Current images show the apocalyptic devastation. Mistakes by the Ukrainian General Staff also led to this, says military expert Markus Reisner.
According to the colonel of the Austrian army, the destruction in Marjinka was due to the superiority of the Russian artillery. Because the invaders had between seven and ten times more guns than the Ukrainians. For months Marjinka was bombarded with barrel and rocket launcher artillery. It is “like on the Isonzo or in Verdun”, Reisner compares to the devastating battles of the First World War.
“Caught in the Trap”
As then, there is now a trench warfare that was “forced upon” Ukraine, the colonel analyses. Reisner sees the failure of the Ukrainian military leadership as “falling into a trap”.
“If the Ukrainians had carried out the offensive at Melitopol in late autumn as planned and if they had managed to break through to the Sea of Azov, the situation might have been different today.” Instead, “battalion after battalion was sent to Bakhmut, where they were wiped out”. Around the city, about 80 kilometers northeast of Marjinka, a bitter war of attrition has been raging for months, which is costly for both parties.
“Ukraine is bleeding dry”
The Ukrainian army is paying for the mistakes of the military leadership with its most precious resource: the Ukrainian soldiers. “Russia is staggering and lashing out… Ukraine, on the other hand, is bleeding out,” says the military expert.
Marjinka had already been hard-fought in the 2014 Russo-Ukrainian war. As of 2015, the small town west of the regional capital Donetsk was back under the control of Kiev. For years, the line of defense held. During the Russian invasion last year, Marjinka came under massive fire from Donetsk and was completely destroyed by Russian guns.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
