How Russia Reduced Marinka, Ukraine, to a Wasteland

How Russia Reduced Marinka, Ukraine, to a Wasteland


  • Drone footage showed how a city in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region was reduced to rubble.
  • Intense fighting between Russia and Ukraine has left no building in Marinka intact, the photos show.
  • Marinka has been a flash point of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict since 2014. 

Before-and-after photos show how Russia’s invasion reduced a Ukrainian city to a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Marinka, located in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, has been the focal point of intense fighting ever since Russian-backed paramilitaries first gained control of parts of the region in April 2014.

It escalated sharply in February 2022, when the main Russian military invaded Ukraine.

Located around 80 miles from Bakhmut, Marinka has recently found itself at the center of renewed battles between Ukrainian and Russian forces. 

marinka after

Marinka in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, on March 5, 2023.

Presidential Office of Ukraine



Photos published by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the weekend reveal how Marinka has been all but wiped out.

They show scenes akin to a post-apocalyptic world: empty streets, skeletal trees, and bombed-out buildings. There are no signs of any people or cars.

Marinka

New video footage of Marinka shot from the air with a drone on February 19, 2023.

Associated Press



“It used to be home for around 10,000 people. It used to be a peaceful city. It used to be…until Russia’s war criminals razed it to the ground,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs captioned the photos.

At the time of writing, the territory was roughly split between Russian and Ukrainian control, the Associated Press reported.

Marinka

New video footage of Marinka shot from the air with a drone on February 19, 2023.

Associated Press



Marinka’s police chief Artem Schus said that every building in the city has been damaged, AP reported.

“The city is completely destroyed. Completely,” Schus said. “Currently, there are no civilians left in the city because the military administration and police evacuated all residents, all children. Living there is impossible.”

maxar beof

An aerial photo of Marinka in October 2022 (left) versus in February 2023.

Satellite image ©2023 Maxar Technologies.



A satellite picture from February 15, 2022 — a few days before Russia launched its attack — shows a city with rows of houses and large administrative buildings.

A video published by a local TV station in 2021 shows a city that is unremarkable in its normalcy. Trees line the streets; people are exercising or walking with their shopping bags, and vehicles are driving the roads. 





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