The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valeri Zaluzhni, acknowledged this Tuesday that Ukrainian troops have withdrawn to the outskirts of the city of Marinka, although units still remain in the north of the destroyed city.
"Street after street, block after block are being destroyed. Our fighters are being attacked. And the fact that we have now retreated to the outskirts of Márinka and in some places we have already established positions behind Márinka does not seem to me to cause a public protest," he explained in an unusual press conference.
Despite this, "today" there are still units "in the northern part" of Márinka, he stressed.
Zaluzhni compared the Russian attack on the eastern city of Donetsk province to the complete destruction of Bakhmut by Russian soldiers to take it.
"We protect every piece of our land, every piece, but if enemy shells begin to litter this narrow piece with stones, dirt and our soldiers, then the lives of our soldiers are more important to us," he said.
"War, unfortunately, is like that," stated the commander in chief of the Armed Forces.
