After months of intense fighting in the small town of Chasov Yar, in eastern Ukraine, Russia announced today that it had captured it, but Ukraine immediately denied this claim, BTA writes, citing AFP.
What is the strategic importance of this town?
Chasov Yar had about 12,000 inhabitants before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It is located on a hill, which gives it strategic importance compared to other more important towns in the Donetsk region. If its capture is confirmed, it would increase the risks for cities like Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, which are important logistical bases for the Ukrainian army and which are still heavily populated.
The capture of Chasov Yar was expected, but that does not make the event any less significant. It illustrates the difficulties facing Ukrainian forces, which are exhausted by three years of war.
The army is smaller in size, less well-equipped, and Ukraine faces uncertainty about whether its allies' support will be sustained as the war continues.
Chasov Yar has lost its strategic interest in recent months.
Thanks to technological developments, the range of Russian drones carrying explosives now reaches about thirty kilometers, allowing them to strike Ukrainian logistical targets well beyond Chasov Yar.
The Ukrainian military played down the importance of the town in interviews with Agence France-Presse last year, saying that its capture would be a matter of public relations for Russia.
What remains of Chasov Yar?
Aerial footage released by a Ukrainian brigade earlier this year showed a town of which, figuratively speaking, only a skeleton of concrete and smoking metal remains. Since last summer, Ukraine has feared the fall of the city. In July 2024, an Agence France-Presse team managed to go to Chasov Yar and saw buildings largely destroyed, either leveled to the ground or completely blackened by explosions.
The Russian army, which is in a stronger position in eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donetsk region, has been attacking Chasov Yar without interruption since the beginning of April 2024 at the cost of heavy losses.
The serious battle there began in May 2023, when Russian forces and units of the private military company “Wagner“ captured the neighboring town of Bakhmut, sacrificing too many soldiers in the bloody assaults.
AFP Ukraine video coordinator Armand Solden was killed there on May 9, 2023, at the age of 32, in a Russian missile strike while reporting.
What next?
Russia occupies about 20 percent of Ukrainian territory and claims to have captured more villages every day, but very rarely announces that it has captured cities.
But the actual military consequences of Russia's announced capture of Chasov Yar are difficult to assess.
It took Moscow's soldiers a year to capture Andriyivka (in February 2024) or Vugledar, two other significant cities for the Ukrainian army in Donbas. However, this did not lead to the collapse of the front.
The Kremlin considers the capture of Donbas, an industrial and coal-producing region that includes Donetsk and Luhansk regions, a priority.
The Russian military also claims to have advanced into new areas, such as Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine, or Dnipropetrovsk region in central Ukraine.