Chasiv Yar: another town that the Russians turned into ruins. Why is it important to keep it?
Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region, located west of Bakhmut, has been under shelling since the beginning of the war. However, the Russians began an active assault on the town in April 2024, planning to take it by the ritualistic date of 9 May. The battle for the city is still ongoing.
Destruction
Red on the map indicates buildings that sustained significant damage and destruction between April and June 2024.
We overlaid the layer with the buildings on the heat map of damage in the city, obtained by analyzing Sentinel-1 satellite images. According to the analysis, the city suffered the most damage in the first half of April.
Comparison of a drone image of Chasovyi Yar in June 2024 and the damage detected by radar image analysis.
It is difficult for radar satellites to detect minor damage or cases where the destruction is very gradual over time. In addition, many buildings were destroyed before the active offensive began in April 2024. Therefore, the actual extent of the city's destruction is greater than the radar satellite recorded during April-June 2024.
We are unable to apply the methodology for determining damage in the transitional winter-spring period, as the presence of snow or increased soil moisture due to snowmelt can lead to false positive results for damage.
For example, Maxar's satellite imagery of Chasiv Yar from September 2013 already shows many damaged buildings — they are easily recognizable because instead of a roof, you can see the "cells" of the building's frame.
Targets and damaged buildings reflect the satellite's microwaves differently. Despite the intense fighting that has been going on in the city since around mid-June, Sentinel-1 imagery has ceased to show significant damage to the city's buildings. This is also an indirect indication that no intact buildings are left in the city.
The scale of the destruction is confirmed by a video by the Come Back Alive Foundation published on 18 July.
The key to agglomeration
Chasiv Yar has a special position. After capturing Avdiivka, the Russians targeted it. Firstly, Chasiv Yar is located at a dominant height. The highest point here is 247 meters. For example, in neighboring Kostyantynivka, Druzhkivka, Sloviansk, and Kramatorsk, the average height is between 100 and 125 meters.
Secondly, it is within easy reach of Konstantinovka (7 kilometers to the west) and Kramatorsk (25 kilometers to the northwest).
In addition to its special position in terms of altitude, Chasiv Yar also has a water barrier: the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal flows through the eastern outskirts of the town.
Beyond Chasiv Yar is a flat and open area. If the Russian army succeeds in capturing the city, it will have the entire Kramatorsk-Slaviansk agglomeration in the palm of its hand. This will allow the long-range artillery of the Russian Federation to fire on the logistics routes of the Ukrainian army.
Capturing the town would also open the way for Russian troops to directly attack Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, meaning that Chasiv Yar is essentially the key to the entire agglomeration. After the Russians occupied Donetsk in 2014, the accumulation of these cities became the administrative and logistical center of the part of Donetsk Oblast controlled by Ukraine.
Chasiv Yar had industrial enterprises and a powerful transport hub, including a railway. Before the Great War, the town was home to about 13,000 people, but as of the beginning of April this year, about 700 remained, mostly elderly people who, for various reasons, did not want to leave.
Chasiv Yar was also once home to the headquarters of the Joint Forces Operation.
In the spring of 2024, Russian troops came close to Chasiv Yar and, unable to take it head-on, began to systematically destroy it with artillery and air strikes.
In the spring, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said that Russia had set a goal to capture the town by 9 May, Victory Day, but they failed.
Defense
There are many problems in the defence of ChasivYar. Russian troops still have a significant advantage in terms of personnel, aircraft and ammunition. They have been dropping a large number of CABs on the town, but according to Captain Oleg Kalashnikov, a spokesman for the 26th Artillery Brigade, the number of such bombs has recently decreased significantly and the Russians are mostly storming the town with infantry, and, importantly, without the support of heavy equipment.
The ratio of artillery ammunition is 1 to 10 in favor of Russia.
They are destroying houses, industrial facilities, as well as Ukrainian Armed Forces fortifications both in the city and on the outskirts of it.
Today, the Russians are trying to outflank Chasiv Yar and are sometimes having some success.
If the enemy succeeds in advancing on the flanks, the Ukrainian garrison will be forced to withdraw from the city to avoid being trapped.
