DONETSK, January 15. /TASS/. Ukraine is trying to downplay the liberation of Kurakhovo in the Donetsk People's Republic by making the settlement look like a small and village with no importance for Ukrainian troops, DPR head Denis Pushilin said on Solovyov Live television.
"This is another very serious fortified area. It is comparable to - it was perhaps possible to prepare even more than in Avdeyevka or Ugledar. It is also comparable to Krasnoarmeysk, which is being liberated. But Kurakhovo was a big thorn in the side for us, as for many years Donetsk, the long-suffering Petrovsky District of Donetsk, the Kirovsky District of Donetsk were shelled - and that came from places in and around Kurakhovo. We saw where that came from," he said.
The official also said it was not possible to "get the enemy" as they used concrete for their fortifications, while industrial sites allowed them to hold the settlement for a long time.
"At previous stages, do you remember how [Ukrainian officials] were hysterical, how they vowed to hold on there to the last? We remember how it all happened in Artyomovsk," he said. "This time around they made it look like nothing happened, as if Kurakhovo were a small village. Like, we lost it, but what’s the big whoop? But in fact it is very significant now in terms of our units moving ahead," Pushilin said.
Russian servicemen liberated the largest settlement in southwestern Donbass - the town of Kurakhovo - on January 6, according to the Russian Defense Ministry. The town is the largest populated area in the southwestern part of Donbas, the Defense Ministry said.