Russian Forces Gain Control of Maryinka in East Ukraine, Defense Minister Says

Ukrainian Army snipers are silhouetted at a shooting range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Army snipers are silhouetted at a shooting range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
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Russian Forces Gain Control of Maryinka in East Ukraine, Defense Minister Says

Ukrainian Army snipers are silhouetted at a shooting range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)
Ukrainian Army snipers are silhouetted at a shooting range near a front line, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Donetsk region, Ukraine December 23, 2023. (Reuters)

Russian forces have gained full control of Maryinka, a town in eastern Ukraine, Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu told President Vladimir Putin, one of Russia's most significant gains since the capture of Bakhmut in May.

Most accounts of Maryinka, southwest of the Russian-held regional center of Donetsk, describe it as a ghost town.

Putin said control of the town, which was once home to 10,000 people, will allow the Russian forces to move enemy combat units away from Donetsk.

"Our troops (now) have the opportunity to reach a wider operational area," he said in a video of the exchange between him and Shoigu posted online by a Kremlin journalist.

Russia's last major success on the battlefield was the capture in May of Bakhmut, theater of some of the bloodiest fighting. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June aimed at retaking land in the country's south and east, including Bakhmut.

Kyiv's forces have made little progress in the counteroffensive in the face of entrenched Russian resistance.

Russian troops have also intensified land and air-based attacks on the nearby town of Avdiivka since mid-October as the focal point of their slow-moving push through eastern Ukraine's Donbas region in the 22-month-old conflict.

Avdiivka was briefly captured in 2014 by Russian-backed separatists who seized large chunks of eastern Ukraine. Fortifications were later built around the town - seen as a gateway to Donetsk.

"Ukrainian defense forces continued to hold back the enemy in the areas of Maryinka and Novomykhailivka in the Donetsk region, repelling five Russian attacks," Ukrainian General Staff said in its dispatch early on Monday.

There have been no comments so far from Ukraine on the latest developments.



ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
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ICC Concerned About Hungary's Decision to Withdraw from the Court

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (L) and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands at the end of a press conference following bilateral talks on April 3, 2025 in Budapest, Hungary. (Photo by Attila KISBENEDEK / AFP)

The presidency of the International Criminal Court on Thursday expressed concern about Hungary's decision to withdraw from the court.
In a letter to Hungary it urged the country to continue to be a resolute party to the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the country would withdraw completely from the court on the same day Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu, indicted by the ICC, visited Budapest.

Orban gave the Israeli leader a welcome with full military honors in Budapest’s Castle District. The two close allies stood side by side as a military band played and an elaborate procession of soldiers on horseback and carrying swords and bayoneted rifles marched by.

As the ceremony unfolded, Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyás, released a brief statement saying that “the government will initiate the withdrawal procedure” for leaving the court, which could take a year or more to complete.

Orban later said that he believes the ICC is “a political court.”
The ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said when issuing its warrant that there was reason to believe Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had committed crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza.