Reduced to rubble Photos from Russian state media show the destruction in Ukraine’s occupied frontline towns

Nearly a year ago, in early December 2023, Russia announced it had captured Marinka, a town in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. For nearly a decade, Marinka had been on the frontlines, enduring relentless shelling. In the spring of 2024, during the offensive on Vuhledar, the nearby village of Novomykhailivka, just eight miles away, also fell to Russian forces. Both settlements were left in ruins by the fighting. Here’s how Russia’s state news agency TASS shows them now.

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