Artillery and drone strikes empty Chasiv Yar of volunteers
Chasiv Yar Mayor Serhiy Chaus reported on Hromadske Radio on May 1 that volunteer visits to the city have nearly ceased due to the high risk of artillery shelling and drone attacks targeting civilians.
“At the moment, city is under Ukrainian control," Chaus said.
Chaus described the dire conditions in Chasiv Yar: "This is a Ukrainian city, and occupiers are not welcome there. People in the city are now just existing; it's difficult to call it living because there is no heat, electricity, or water." According to the mayor, 682 residents remain in the city, predominantly older adults, with no children currently present.
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The mayor also noted the extensive damage to the city's infrastructure. "There is not a single surviving high-rise building in the city. Most of them have been critically damaged, and in the private sector, windows are missing," he explained. "Artillery shellings are frequent, and we are at the peak of shellings for about a month now, and their number has not yet decreased."
Battle for Chasiv Yar
Institute for the Study of War on April 10 noted that in an attempt to make their way to Chasiv Yar, a town west of Bakhmut, Russians are using tactics that helped them capture Avdiivka. Positions of Ukrainian defenders are being intensively bombed by guided air boms and fire from their planes and helicopters.
Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Oleksandr Syrsky stated that the situation on the Eastern Front has significantly escalated in recent days on April 13.
Read also: The latest on Ukrainian and Russian military positions near Avdiivka and Ivanivske
DeepState monitoring portal reported that Russians occupied village of Bohdanivka and advanced near Chasiv Yar. Ministry of Defense, however, denied reports of occupation of Bohdanivka.
Syrsky said that Russia's top military leadership had set a task for its soldiers to capture the town west of Bakhmut, Chasiv Yar, by May 9. Enemy is concentrating its efforts to break through defenses and gain access to Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal to create conditions for further advancement to Kramatorsk agglomeration.
Ukrainian military states that if Russians succeed in capturing Chasiv Yar, they will launch an offensive against Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk, and Sloviansk.
Read also: Russian tactical advances in Avdiivka fall short of breakthrough, ISW reports
On April 21, Nazar Voloshyn, spokesman for Khortytsia operational and strategic troop grouping, said that Ukrainian Armed Forces are in control of situation in Chasiv Yar. There are no Russians in town.
He also reported that about 20-25 thousand Russian troops were trying to storm Chasiv Yar and surrounding area.
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