RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russian military liberates key Donbass stronghold – Moscow
Russian troops have fully liberated Maryinka, a key town in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu announced on Monday.
Maryinka – which has been legally part of Russia since last year's referendums –was a major Ukrainian military for many years. It is located immediately to the west of the city of Donetsk.
The minister broke the news during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. “Today, assault units with the troop grouping South fully liberated the town of Maryinka to the southwest of Donetsk,” Shoigu stated.
The liberation of the town opens up new opportunities for Russian troops and further damages Ukraine’s military capabilities, the minister said. The town, which has been the scene of fighting for nearly a decade since the early stages of the conflict in then-Ukrainian Donbass, had been turned into a major stronghold by Kiev’s forces, Shoigu noted. An extensive network of underground tunnels and reinforced concrete bunkers was installed on almost every street, he added.
The Russian president congratulated all the troops involved “at different stages” in the struggle for Maryinka, stating that its liberation is an important milestone that will have a positive impact – pushing Ukrainian forces away from Donetsk, as well as providing Russian troops with wider operational freedom, Putin said.
The fighting over the DPR town intensified in recent months, with Russian forces gradually seizing control of key locations. The fighting left the town heavily damaged with no structure left intact, videos from Maryinka shared online show.
Apart from serving as a stronghold for the Ukrainian military, Maryinka has also been one of the key staging points for attacks on Donetsk itself. The city has been subjected to indiscriminate missile and artillery shelling by Ukrainian forces on an almost daily basis during the conflict.
** Russia’s weapons industry outproducing West – deputy PM
Russia is outpacing Western countries in arms production despite the latter’s push to provide military support to Ukraine, Russian Deputy PM and Trade Minister Denis Manturov has said.
In a wide-ranging interview with RIA Novosti on Monday, Manturov offered a glimpse into the state of Russia’s defense industry, which has switched into a high gear to support the military as the Ukraine conflict is about to enter its third year.
According to the minister, Russia’s military factories have increased output and delivery rates by 10-12 times for certain categories of materiel and hardware. “Trust me, the numbers are huge,” he assured, although he declined to go into specifics, citing “certain nuances.”
“I don’t want to boast but I can say that we have started picking up the pace in production and we accomplished that earlier than Western countries. How long this race will last – this is another question,” Manturov said, adding that Moscow has clear plans for future development.
Commenting on Western countries’ arms production plans, the minister declined to speculate whether they “will have enough juice” to keep up. “For the time being, we are outpacing them,” he added.
According to Manturov, Russia’s defense industry facilities have been operating smoothly, fulfilling at least 98% of all state orders. “This is a record, the highest level of fulfillment of state defense orders in the entire modern history of Russia,” he said, adding that total output has more than doubled compared to last year.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said earlier this month that Russia has managed to triple the production of armored units and double the production of aircraft, including drones, compared to last year. Last month, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu also revealed that Moscow’s forces are receiving five times more artillery shells and missiles in 2023 than in 2022.
Meanwhile, in late March, Russian President Vladimir Putin estimated that the country’s defense industry was producing three times more ammunition than Western backers could send to Ukraine.
He also said that the US was producing 14,000-15,000 artillery shells a month, with plans to increase this number to 42,000 by 2024. However, according to Putin, this was not enough to satisfy Ukraine’s needs as it is burning up to 5,000 shells each day.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Ukraine carries out air assault on Crimea's port of Feodosia
Ukraine carried out an air attack on Feodosia in Crimea, Ukraine's air force commander said on Tuesday, after the Russian-installed governor of the Crimea said that the assault sparked a fire in the town's port area.
Commander of Ukraine's air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said on the Telegram messaging app, without providing evidence, that the attack destroyed a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing Novocherkask ship.
"And the fleet in Russia is getting smaller and smaller! Thanks to the Air Force pilots and everyone involved for the filigree work!" said Oleshchuk.
The report could not be independently verified and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
Both Russia and Ukraine have often exaggerated the losses they claim to have inflicted upon each other in the 22-month long war, while underestimated their own casualty and equipment losses.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of Crimea, said only that the Ukrainian attack resulted in a fire in the town's port area that was promptly contained.
"All relevant emergency services are on site," Aksyonov said on the Telegram. "Residents of several houses will be evacuated."
Footage posted on several Russian news outlets on Telegram showed powerful explosions and fires over a port area.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in a broadly condemned move in 2014.
** Ukraine draft law proposes lowering mobilisation age to 25 from 27
Text of a draft law posted on the website of Ukraine's parliament late on Monday proposed lowering the age of those who can be mobilized for combat duty to 25 from 27.
The proposed change comes as Ukraine's 22-month-old battle against Russia drags on. On Sunday, Ukraine and Russia exchanged claims over downed military aircraft, and on Monday Ukraine denied Russia's claim that its forces had seized the regional centre Maryinka in eastern Ukraine.
The draft text detailed which Ukrainian citizens would be subject to enrolment for military registration of conscripts and said it would apply to those "who have reached the age of 25."
An explanatory note signed by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov summarized key provisions of the draft law, saying they included the "change of conscription age from 27 to 25 years."
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy told his end-of-year news conference on Dec. 19 that the military had proposed mobilising 450,000-500,000 more Ukrainians, but that it was a "highly sensitive" issue that the military and government would discuss before deciding whether to send the proposal to parliament.
Zelenskiy, who has yet to back the proposal publicly, said on Dec. 19 that he wanted to hear more arguments for mobilising additional people. "This is a very serious number," he said.
Ukraine's troop numbers are not known, but in the past it has been said the country has around 1 million people under arms. U.S. officials estimate that hundreds of thousands have been killed and wounded since Russia invaded Ukraine. Neither country publishes its casualty figures.
David Arakhamia, the head of Zelenskiy's party in parliament, said the government was working on the bill at the request of the military and that it was due to be introduced on Monday.
"The military needs a solution to its problems," he said in a post on the Telegram messaging app earlier on Monday. "Society wants to hear answers to all sensitive questions."
RT/Reuters
