Kiev, Ukraine
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Russia says its forces captured Chashiv Yah, a major town in eastern Ukraine, after nearly 18 months of intense battles in the area.
Ukrainian forces confirmed Thursday that Russians attacked a location near Chashiv Yar, a few miles west of Bahmut. However, it denied that the town was lost. “Chasiv Yar is under the control of the 11th Army Corps,” the Corps said Thursday.
The Russian Ministry of Defense issued drone footage showing the troops in parts of the town, saying more than 4,200 buildings and structures, which have made around 50 Ukrainian soldiers prisoners, have been cleared.
Chasiv Yar’s prewar population was 12,000, but is now abandoned after two years of airstrikes and artillery attacks.
Russian forces launched an attack on Chashiv Yah in April last year after ousting Ukrainian forces out of Bahmut. Analysts estimate that they suffer thousands of victims as they try to overcome Ukraine’s defense.
Deep State, the Ukrainian open source mapping site that illustrates the forefront of the war, has shown that Kiev’s army still exists at the western edge of the town. A video from the Russian Ministry of Defense showed military forces planting flags in two regions, but said the Russians had no control over those regions.
If confirmed, the Chasiv Yar seizures provide high ground for the Russians and threaten what is known as the Ukrainian fortress belt in the Donetsk region, including Slovyansk, Kramatorsk and Kostyantynivka.
These cities are regularly hit by Russian missiles and gliding bombs launched by aircraft. One person was killed Thursday and about 12 people were injured in a strike that destroyed part of a five-storey building in Kramatorsk, according to the local junta.
Throughout the Donetsk region, Russian troops have moved forward this year despite serious injuries. The strategic town of Pokrovsk is surrounded by three sides, with Russian units expanding to the borders of Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.
Analysts say the Russian army adopted tactics and moved to avoid Ukrainian drone defenses on foot or on small groups of motorcycles.
Meanwhile, Russia launched another major missile and drone attack on the capital Kiev early on Thursday. At least eight people have died, local officials said, the six-year-old and his mother.
Ukrainian President Voldymi Zelessunky said more than 50 people were hospitalized. According to Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, nine were kids, the highest number in one night.
One Russian missile was “immediately attacked” in an apartment in the western district of Sviatshunsky, according to Timur Tokachenko, the head of the military regime in the Ukrainian capital.
One man was trapped for more than three hours before being rescued from the tile rub, but the other relatives who weren’t waiting worriedly were waiting as the rescue team tried to remove the debris. One woman on the scene told CNN that her mother and sister were in the building when the missile struck.
Iryna Tsymokh, 53, said she and her family just returned from the shelter when another attack occurred. “The door was blown away. My child was groaning so much. We all jumped out in our evening clothes,” she said.
Zoya Onishenko said her apartment had been destroyed. She was still alive just because she spent the night in Dacha in her country.
Zelensky said the Russian army fired more than 300 drones and eight missiles in the capital, deliberately calculated insidious attacks to overload the air defense system.
