The Russian occupation army is intensifying its assaults in the area of Chasiv Yar near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which is an important stronghold of the Ukrainian military.
What is happening in the area of Chasiv Yar
The publication notes that over the past few weeks, the command of the Russian occupation army has concentrated about 25,000 invaders in the Chasiv Yar area.
According to the Ukrainian military leadership, the Kremlin ordered the command of the Russian occupation army to capture Chasiv Yar by the 9th May.
Analysts and the Ukrainian military note that the town is of more strategic than symbolic importance.
In particular, the retreat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces from Chasiv Yar will jeopardise the defence of most other towns in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
The hilltop town is one of the last natural barriers for Ukraine, protecting important supply routes, with the city of Kramatorsk 30 kilometres to the north.
Chasiv Yar is the centre of gravity of the defence line in the region,’ explains Viktor Kevlyuk, military analyst at the Centre for Defence Strategies, a Kyiv-based security expert centre.
A representative of the 26th Artillery Brigade stationed in Chasiv Yar notes that the Russian occupation army drops dozens of planning bombs on the town every day.
Both sides are currently fighting for control of Bohdanivka and Ivanivske, two villages located on the flanks of the town. Russian troops have not yet been able to enter the city itself.
At the same time, the key defence of Chasiv Yar is through a 30-metre-wide canal along the eastern outskirts of the town.
At the same time, the units of the Russian occupation army are slowly approaching the canal.
The bridge over the canal connects the main part of the city with the small residential area of Kanal. The occupiers briefly entered there. The bridge was destroyed by artillery strikes.
However, there are two sections of the canal with a total length of about 1.5 km that have become ‘convenient places for Russian assaults,’ Kevlyuk said. The enemy forces ‘have been attacking here very hard for the last two weeks, without success so far.’
What threats does the loss of Chasiv Yar pose to the Ukrainian Army?
The forests on the hillsides around Chasiv Yar have also become a fierce battlefield.
It is not practical to use attack drones in the forest; branches and leaves do not allow us to hit the target of interest. But we have other drones that can drop munitions, such as the Baba Yaga heavy bomber drone,’ explains Yuriy Fedorenko, commander of the Achilles Battalion, a Ukrainian drone unit.
The encirclement of Chasiv Yar or the capture of the town would allow the Russian occupiers to use artillery, UAVs and heavy planning bombs to strike Kostyantynivka.
In addition, the criminal army of Russia would be able to disrupt or stop the logistics of the Ukrainian army that passes through Chasiv Yar.
This, in turn, would disconnect the Ukrainian defence line in the northern and southern parts of Donbas.
From the captured Bakhmut to Chasiv Yar, a distance of 6 km, the Russian occupiers have been advancing over the past year.
But recent advances have been faster: Russian units further south advanced seven kilometres in less than two weeks to capture the village of Ocheretyne.
The ground that the Russians managed to cover in the last few months was a good defensive line for Ukraine. Now Russia could advance faster. In addition, the capture of Chasiv Yar will make it much more difficult to defend other territories,’ said Rob Lee, a military analyst and senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute's Eurasia Program.
According to Ukrainian Armed Forces officer Mykola Melnyk, the recent successes of the Russian occupiers in the Chasiv Yar area only increase the strategic importance of the city.
If the criminals from the Russian army take control of the road leading to Kostyantynivka, the entire defence line in the area will be surrounded.
I am confident that the Ukrainian political and military leadership is aware of this problem and is working to resolve it, Melnyk stressed.
Analysts, as well as the Ukrainian military, expect Russia to intensify its attacks in the coming days, trying to use its advantage before the $61 billion worth of US weapons arrive on the front line.
The enemy understands that Ukraine lacks aircraft, lacks anti-aircraft systems and ammunition, that it does not have as many armoured vehicles as they do, explains Yuriy Fedorenko.
