The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today that Russian forces have taken Chasov Yar, called a pivotal Ukrainian stronghold in Russia’s Donetsk Region. (It is located between Donetsk City and Slaviansk, to the northeast of Pokrovsk.) The Ministry reports the victory as part of the South grouping of forces advancing towards the cities of Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka. Chasov Yarr is described by RT as having been “one of Ukraine’s best fortified positions in Donbass, situated on elevated ground and bisected by the Seversky Donets-Donbass Canal. Control of the city affords artillery dominance over supply routes toward the key regional cities of Kramatorsk and Slaviansk.”
TASS cited a source saying that in taking Chasov Yar, Russian troops have destroyed “perhaps the largest [Ukrainian] force in the history of the special operation... It is literally thousands of enemy personnel.” Igor Kimakovsky, an advisor to the head of the Donetsk People Republic, said “the fall of Chasov Yar essentially leads to the collapse of [Ukrainian] defenses in Konstantinovka, and then Druzhkovka and Slaviansk.”
The nightly address by Ukraine’s acting president, Volodymyr Zelensky, singled out the Russian MOD report. He stated: “There were Russian fake reports today—you saw them—about Chasiv Yar. This is Russian disinformation. Ukrainian units are holding our positions, and every Russian attempt to advance in the Donetsk, Sumy, and Kharkiv regions is ultimately being repelled by us.” In regular Orwelllian Newspeak, the “disinformation,” that is, the Russian report, is that they have advanced and occupied Chasiv Yar. Since we, however, will ultimately repel them, they are lying.
