Fights for Maryinka. Short

In eastern Ukraine - again battles using heavy weapons

All day on June 3, the Ukrainian army and separatists fought outside the city of Maryinka in the Donetsk region. Violating the Minsk agreements, the parties used heavy weapons; As a result of the battles, civilians suffered. In exacerbation of the situation, the parties blame each other. While Maryinka is under the control of the Ukrainian army. Whether the battles will continue in the coming days is unknown. Medusa briefly retells the most important thing that you need to know about the situation in Maryinka.

Near Maryinka, in recent weeks, they constantly shot. Maryinka is a city of district significance with a population of about 10 thousand people (before the start of hostilities). It is controlled by the Ukrainian military, but the demarcation line passes next to him. After the signing of the Minsk agreements in February 2015, the situation in the region stabilized, but already on May, almost every day they began to blame each other of shelling. On May 8, the Ukrainian army closed the "checkpoints" in the Maryinki area and accused the separatists of trying to break through the front in this place. In turn, the separatists are confident that Ukrainian "grades" are pulled into the Maryinki area, which is prohibited by the Minsk agreements.

Maryinka is an important defense point of the Ukrainian army. According to Valentina Manko, deputy commander of the Dnipro-1 regiment, in the case of a breakthrough in the Maryinka area, separatists can create another boiler. It was such tactics that they applied when attacking Debaltseve, which, after fierce battles, was repelled from the Ukrainian army in mid -February.

The battle on June 3 became one of the most serious since the beginning of spring. Marinka's shootout began at night and lasted all day. The parties accused each other at the beginning of hostilities and the use of heavy weapons prohibited by the Minsk agreements. What exactly happened in Maryinka is not entirely clear, but all sources agree that the separatists managed to at least advance in deeper Maryinka for some time. True, the details are incomprehensible: the representative of the DPR Eduard Basurin claimed that there was no offensive, just Ukrainians themselves leave their positions; The Novorossiya Agency reported that the speech of a massive separatist strike. The volunteers of the Ukrainian army reported the retreat of local units, but in the evening the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Stepan Poltorak reported on the reflected assault. By evening, the active fighting of Maryinka stopped, but individual shootings continue. On June 3, battles took place near other settlements that are located along the front line.

As a result of battles, there are victims on both sides, as well as among local residents. How many people died in the Maryinka area on June 3, cannot be said even approximately. Ukrainian sources talk about one dead military and one peaceful resident, as well as two dozen wounded. The DPR has a completely different figure: they talk about three dozen killed Ukrainian military. In the same way, the numbers vary in victims from the DPR. It is important that Ukraine confirmed the use of heavy weapons - this means that there can be more random victims of clashes.

What will happen next. This is unknown. Both sides accuse each other of accumulating forces in the Maryinki area (it is, inter alia, about tanks and self -propelled artillery plants). This may indicate the intention to continue fighting. On the other hand, the speaker of the President of Ukraine Andrei Lysenko said that it is impossible to talk about a full -scale offensive - the attack is on a small section of the front. Ukraine officially turned to Russia with a request to influence the separatists, Russia still does not consider itself a participant in the conflict. Negotiations on the cessation of fire with the participation of the OSCE are already underway, but their results are unknown: the OSCE, which issues press releases on the situation in Ukraine once a day, has not yet written about June 3.