Russia Sacrifices Resources for 'Minimal' Gains in City With Key Road: U.K.

Russia is reportedly expending considerable resources for "minimal gains" in an attempt to control a Ukrainian city with roads valuable as supply lines, according to the British Ministry of Defense.

Marinka is located in the Donetsk Region of Eastern Ukraine and is situated close to some of the most intense areas of conflict in the war, including the capital of the region, which remains under Russian occupation, and the embattled city of Bakhmut, which Ukrainian forces hold a weakening control over. The Kyiv Independent reported that the city has been "largely destroyed" in the wake of Russia's invasion and completely deserted by civilian residents since November.

Russia has continued to pump resources into battles all across the Donetsk Region, especially in Marinka, as well as the city of Adviika, according to the defense ministry. Situated only 20 kilometers outside of Donetsk, and roughly 120 kilometers southwest of Bakhmut, the roads leading to Marinka, in particular, could provide key supply lines for Russia despite the lack of immediate gains.

"Russia continues to give a high priority to resourcing operations in the broader Donetsk sector, including the Marinka and Avdiivka areas, expending significant resources for minimal gains," the defense ministry stated in its report.

As one of the breakaway regions making up the Donbas area central to the conflict, Russia is fighting hard to take full control of the Donetsk region as a primary goal of the invasion. Russia claimed to have annexed the region, along with three others along its border in Eastern Ukraine, late last year, though these annexations are broadly unrecognized on the national stage.

"The battle for Marinka has continued since last March, and while parts of the town have been taken, repeated Russian assaults have run up against determined Ukrainian resistance," European conflict expert Rajan Menon with the Defense Priorities think-tank explained in a statement sent to Newsweek. "So Marinka has eluded Russian occupation. The battle for Marinka, like the fight over Bakhmut, reflects a key aim of Russia's (unsuccessful) winter offensive, namely to conquer the entire Donbas (Donetsk and Luhansk provinces). The Russians control Luhansk but only part of Donetsk—hence the significance of towns in Donetsk province such as Bakhmut, Marinka, Avdiivka, Vuhledar, Kamianka, etc."

In a post to Instagram showing the aftermath of the conflict in Marinka, The Kyiv Independent said that the city was among those in Ukraine that have been "erased from the Earth" by Russia's "scorched earth tactics," with its 10,000 residents being either driven away or killed.

"After months of fierce fighting and Russian bombardment, the city of Marinka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast has been erased from the Earth," the post reads. "Once home to almost 10,000 people, now it's nothing but a plot of land with the occasional skeletons of destroyed buildings. Marinka joins a long list of Ukrainian cities like Mariupol and Volnovakha that fell victim to the scorched earth tactics Russia has used in its war against Ukraine."

Updated 04/10/2023 6:28 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from Rajan Menon.