THE Russia announced yesterday, Sunday, that its forces are approaching the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukrainewhile taking control of the settlement of Bogdanivka, at a time when Kiev is pointing out that it urgently needs the recently approved US aid to defend against a Russian invasion.
In particular, the Russian Defense Ministry reported via Telegram that units of Moscow’s forces in the south “have completely liberated the settlement of Bogdanivka … and improved the situation along the front line.”
One step closer (?) the Russians
It is noted that the control of this settlement, located just to the west of Bahamut, which the Russians have now taken, has been in question for some time.
Bogdanivka is about five kilometers east of Chasiv Yar, a heavily fortified hilltop town that is a base for the Ukrainian army’s artillery, providing security for some of the region’s largest cities, such as Kramatorsk and Slavyansk.
Claims by the Russian side that it had put Bogdanivka under its control could not be verified by independent sources, while there was no comment from the Ukrainian side.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stated in its daily report that Bogdanivka is one of the villages where Ukrainian forces repelled 13 enemy attacks. However, he did not provide further details.
Kiev warns of May 9
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his regular daily video statement that yesterday, Sunday, he held talks with Army Chief Oleksandr Shirsky and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov about Chasiv Yar and other important front line areas.
In an interview with the American network NBC, which was broadcast yesterday, the Ukrainian president urged Washington – where the House of Representatives finally approved the $60 billion aid package for Kiev – to move quickly in terms of ratifying the bill and proceed with weapons transfers ahead of an expected new Russian attack.
“We are preparing [για μια επίθεση]Zelensky said, echoing Sirsky’s warning that Russia aims to capture Chasiv Yar by May 9, one of Russia’s biggest holidays, which marks the anniversary of Moscow’s victory over the Nazis in World War II. World War.
The Ukrainian side says the Russians are expected to launch a large-scale offensive in the spring and summer after capturing the town of Avdiivka, east of Chasiv Yar.
Ukraine’s defense ministry denied last week that Russia had captured all of Bogdanivka, but confirmed that Kiev forces had lost some positions in the village in the eastern Donetsk region.
So what is the strategic importance of Chasiv Yar and what would its capture by the Russians mean for the course of the war?
What we know about Chasiv Yar
Chasiv Yar (i.e. Silent Gorge), which before the war had a population of over 12,000 and the Russians call it “Chasov Yar”, is located in the Donbas industrial region of Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast – one of four which Moscow claims to have annexed.
Divided in half by a canal, its pre-war economy centered on a factory producing reinforced concrete products as well as the mining of refractory clay, which is resistant to high temperatures and is used to make products such as bricks.
Chasiv Yar is located in an elevated geographical area and has served many times as a staging point for Ukrainian forces as well as an artillery base. It has been bombed several times by the Russian forces and has suffered extensive damage.
Ukraine reported that a Russian strike on a residential building in the city in 2022 had killed at least 43 people. Russia, for its part, claimed that those killed were Ukrainian soldiers and not civilians.
A few hundred residents now remain in the city, mostly elderly, some of whom, however, ultimately decide to leave. Those still in the city are sheltering in basements and relying on the help of volunteers for water and food supplies.
The mayor has long since left the city, while the head of the local military administration is bringing aid to the city from other centers.
What’s at stake?
Russian military analysts report that Sloviansk, Kramatorsk, Druzkivka and Kostiantynivka are among the list of “fortress” cities in eastern Ukraine that are accessible from Chasiv Yar.
The Washington-based Institute for War Studies (IWS) describes the above cities as the “backbone” of the Ukrainian military’s defenses in the east.
“The aggressive effort to capture Chasiv Yar offers Russian forces the most immediate prospects for strategically important advances,” IWS reports.
The Institute even warns that the loss of Druzkivka and Kostiantynivka would be a major operational disadvantage that would be difficult to reverse.
What form is the battle expected to take?
Casualties on both sides during the capture of Bahmut and Abdiivka by the Russians were numerous, although no reliable figures have been made public as to their exact scale.
Sergei Markov, a former adviser to the Kremlin, believes that the battle for Chasiv Yar will be equally difficult for the Russian side.
“The period of “battles for Chasov Yar” has begun. It will last a long time. The battles will be about the same as for Bahamut,” Markov wrote on his official blog.
In addition, Alexander Koch, a war correspondent for the Russian newspaper “Komsomolskaya Pravda”, who often travels with the Russian military, reports that the air force is trying to move forward.
As he wrote on Telegram, in order to enter the city, the Russians will have to face the forces around it and then surround it, simultaneously creating several entry points from different directions.
“This is necessary in order to put the enemy defense forces in the city under pressure and force them to constantly move in different directions under our incessant fire.”
Ukrainian analysts from the “Deep State UA” group, which closely monitors the war, told the “X” platform that Russia is stockpiling for the battle in Chasiv Yar.
With information from Reuters
