ISTANBUL

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief on Tuesday confirmed that the Marinka town in the country’s eastern Donetsk region is under the control of Russian forces. 

“The fact that we have now retreated to the outskirts of Marinka is nothing that can cause a public outcry. This is war. Unfortunately, it is like that,” Valerii Zaluzhnyi said during a news conference in the capital Kyiv.

Their official position, he said, is to protect every bit of Ukrainian land, and the lives of soldiers are more important to them when Russian shells “start to dig this place together with stones, with earth and with our soldiers.”

“Marinka, which held out for almost two years, was destroyed by the enemy street by street and house by house,” Zaluzhnyi said.

Ukrainian forces still remain in the northern outskirts of the city, but the settlement has been destroyed to the extent that it “no longer exists,” he added.

“As of today, our troops are still in the northern part of the city and have prepared a defensive line near the settlement, but I can say that this settlement no longer exists,” he said.

Commenting on the situation near the city of Avdiivka, another area of intense clashes between Russian and Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region, Zaluzhnyi reiterated that they will defend “as much as we have the strength to do so,” but that it is best to save people if this is not enough.

“Of course, we will make such a decision and save people, and then win back. It will all depend on the situation, and there is no need to do anything remotely reminiscent of a show around it,” he added.

On Monday, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoygu said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that their forces took control of Marinka.