Sitting among the kitchen smoke, the Ukrainian soldier Anton is ready to take part in a new operation to protect Chasov Yar - a place of strategic importance for the control of the eastern part of Donbas, BTA reported, citing AFP.
After a year of relative stability on the frontline, Russian forces are making progress against the Ukrainian army, which is struggling to replenish its ranks and suffering from ammunition shortages due to a delay in Western aid. They are now seeking to capture Chasov Yar, located on a hill 20 km west of Bakhmut, a town that Russia captured in May 2023 after months of fierce fighting.
"If the Russians capture Chasov Yar, the door will be open to other cities... so it is important to stop them there," explains 40-year-old soldier Anton. From the dominant position around Chasov Yar, the Russians would have a major base and be able to target the cities below it: first Kramatorsk, the main city in the Ukrainian-controlled region and a major logistical hub for the Ukrainian military, and then, potentially, Slavyansk.
These two cities have symbolic value for Moscow: a decade ago, pro-Russian separatists briefly captured them during the first clashes with Kiev. Currently on the front line, Chasov Yar is on the road to Bakhmut. In this direction, Anton points out that Russia "throws a lot of people, a lot of ammunition, and the air force and artillery are operating there all the time". So far, his unit is "managing to hold on,", emphasizes the soldier from the Fifth Assault Brigade.
On Friday, Ukrainian and Russian military bloggers wrote that Russian troops had reached the outskirts of the city. But Ukrainian commander-in-chief Gen. Oleksandr Sirski said on Saturday that "Chasov Yar remains under control, all attempts by the enemy to break through on this front have failed," despite the city being the scene of fierce clashes.
The head of the military administration in Chasov Yar, Sergey Chaus, told AFP that the situation there has recently become more dangerous. "If before there were moments when there was silence in the city, now there is none (...), the whole city is on fire," he told AFP on Friday. Soldiers injured in Chasov Yar may now face difficulty in receiving emergency first aid before being evacuated.
The last known urgent care clinic was moved out of town for security reasons. One of her doctors told AFP that evacuation teams were no longer going to Chasov Yar, where it had become too dangerous. "If wounded soldiers are evacuated, it is by car," explains 24-year-old doctor Nadia. She has seen soldiers forced to walk for hours "because there is no other way out of these positions".
25-year-old Sergiy, who has just returned from an operation on the outskirts of the city, believes that the situation is now "much worse". The soldier from the fifth assault brigade, nicknamed "Mopeda", continues to rub his heavily puffy eyes. "Many drones are now in operation" day and night, he trusts. His friend Egor believes that drones have become more accurate, which makes them more dangerous than artillery. "The drone continues to fly until it kills you, or falls next to you to injure you until another one appears," described the 27-year-old soldier.
"The first paralyzes you, and the second falls on you and finishes you off," adds Egor, who points out that Russian troops are using their resources more rationally than at the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The 21-year-old soldier Bogdan agrees. "They learn, they learn, they are not stupid... this is not the same army as in 2022.
But some strategies are immutable, soldiers believe, and the destruction of Chasov Yar is reminiscent of previous battles fought by the Russians in which cities were completely razed to the ground. "They destroy everything and then sit alone in the ruins," says Sergiy. According to him, the capture of Chasov Yar would mean an increase in shelling of the people who continue to live there. About 770 people still live in the city, while before the war there were about 13,000, head of the military administration Sergiy Chaus told AFP.
A dozen kilometers from the city, in Kostantinovka, a resident told AFP that he was afraid of the advance of the Russians. Sitting on a bench in front of his house, Andriy Komaristov said he had nowhere to go and had to take care of his mother and elderly neighbors. "Whatever happens, they will plant potatoes and weed their gardens. And they're not going anywhere," he commented, stroking a dog. "We will sit here until the end. And if they hit us, they will hit us, that's all."