Cairo: Hani Kamal El-Din
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Alexander Syrsky, said that the top Russian military leadership has set its troops the task of capturing the city of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk region by May 9.
Syrsky’s words are given in message General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Facebook. The commander noted that the Russian army “is concentrating efforts to break through the defenses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces west of Bakhmut, access the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal, capture the settlement of Chasov Yar, and create conditions for further advance to the Kramatorsk agglomeration.”
As Alexander Syrsky emphasized, the Ukrainian brigades “literally bit into the ground, holding back the daily attacks of the enemy.” According to the Colonel General, separate groups of Russians reached the Novy microdistrict, but were destroyed by drone strikes and artillery fire.
On April 5 and 9, analysts of the DeepState project reported on the advance of Russian troops in the east of Chasovoy Yar and in Bogdanovka. Analysis of reports from the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the week indicates the concentration of Russian forces on this particular section of the front, notes Ukrainian service of Radio Liberty.
A day earlier, on April 13, the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in a telegram channel that the situation at the front in eastern Ukraine had worsened significantly in recent days. As Syrsky wrote, Russian troops have significantly stepped up their offensive operations since the Russian presidential elections in March.
- Chasov Yar is an important settlement for Ukrainian defense to the west of Bakhmut, as well as to the west of Avdiivka. Before the war, the city’s population was 13 thousand people. Its capture by Russian troops, as noted, would be a significant defeat for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.