Marinka not offering Russia a foothold for further offensive operations - ISW

Russia's likely capture of Marinka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region represents a limited Russian tactical gain and does not portend any operationally significant advance.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said this in a new report, according to Ukrinform.

According to ISW analysts, if Russian forces do not dramatically improve their ability to conduct rapid mechanized forward movement, which they show no signs of having done, the capture of Marinka will not bring them any significant advance.

Geolocated footage posted on December 25 indicates that Russian forces advanced in the northern sections of Marinka. ISW assessed that Russian forces likely control most if not all of Marinka despite not yet observing visual confirmation of the complete Russian capture of Marinka as of December 26.

The ISW said that a small and completely destroyed settlement does not offer Russian forces a secure operational foothold from which to launch further offensive operations. Marinka is located less than a kilometer from the pre-invasion frontline and Ukrainian forces have long fortified many of the surrounding settlements, which Russian forces have been similarly struggling to capture. Russian forces have advanced roughly over three kilometers in depth into Marinka since February 24, 2022, and there are no indications that the rate of Russian advance to the next settlements identified as tactical Russian objectives will be any quicker, especially considering the rate of attrition that Russian forces suffered to capture a small settlement directly on the border of territory Russia has controlled since 2014.

The Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said on December 26 that Ukrainian troops were still in the northern part of Marinka, but added that the settlement no longer exists.