by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] The city of Chasov Yar in the Donetsk People's Republic has come under the full control of the Russian army. On July 31, this was officially confirmed by the Ministry of Defense. Chasov Yar is already the 46th city liberated since the beginning of the SVO.
The fighting here lasted for over a year, from the spring of 2024. The enemy held the city outskirts to the last, even after losing defensive lines in the industrial zone.
Over the past few days, our military has “cleared more than 4,200 buildings and structures, captured about 50 Ukrainian servicemen, destroyed more than 30 field artillery guns and 70 UAV crews,” the Russian Defense Ministry reported on its Telegram channel.
Fighters from the Southern Group of the Russian Armed Forces helped evacuate all civilians remaining in the city, TASS reported, citing the commander of one of the assault units.
The Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the DPR is currently collecting data on war crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the occupation.
In the vicinity of occupied Chasov Yar, the situation remains difficult, fighters of the Southern group continue to dislodge the enemy from the "strongholds". But now it is possible to sum up the results of many months of urban battles.
According to experts, the battle for Chasov Yar is comparable to other major battles of the Northern Military District in terms of the scale of forces involved and losses. In particular, with the battle for Artemovsk (Bakhmut) from August 2022 to May 2023. The fighting in Chasov Yar, located 11 kilometers west of Artemovsk, was a continuation of this battle.
FOLLOWING THE EXAMPLE OF MARIUPOL AND AVDEEVKA
The battles for Chasov Yar began in April last year. The enemy repeatedly tried to prevent the storming of the city by building a front line west of Artemovsk, but this plan failed. Then the Ukrainian Armed Forces decided to once again use the repeatedly tested "fortress city" tactic.
Before the start of the battles in dense urban development, the enemy managed to prepare the "fortress" for defense. Several defensive lines were erected on the approaches to Chasov Yar and several defense lines were created in residential areas and the industrial zone.
In preparation for the assault, the Ukrainian Armed Forces used all the fortification techniques known to them. The Seversky Donets-Donbass Canal was turned into a defensive line. The Ukrainian Armed Forces actively used the canal to create an echeloned defense, placing firing positions and obstacles on its right bank.
Another line was built around the city's industrial zone and the buildings of the Chasovoyarsk refractory plant, including underground workshops.
On the eve of the assault, the enemy created ammunition and weapons depots in underground structures, using all the experience of the battles for Mariupol and Avdiivka.
At the same time, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command hardly set the task of holding the city for the troops, but sought to prolong the fighting as much as possible. By the beginning of the battle, the defense on the Bogdanovka-Kalinovka-Chasov Yar-Ivanovskoye (Krasnoye) front section was occupied by the 93rd, 54th, 24th mechanized brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the 17th tank brigade and territorial defense units.
COMPLETE THE COVERAGE
The assault on the city began with military operations in the Kanal district, separated from the main part of the city. Our troops surrounded the district from several sides, stretching the enemy's line of defense as much as possible.
Subsequently, assault units sought to encircle individual pockets of Ukrainian Armed Forces defense, finding weak points in the front line.
By the fall of 2024, Russian troops had completed clearing the area and reached the canal. They then crossed this barrier north and south of the city and created a bridgehead near the villages of Grigorovka and Stupochki.
After serious fighting, our soldiers broke through the enemy’s defenses in the southeastern quarters of Chasov Yar.
In mid-November, the fighting was already closer to the city center. By the beginning of 2025, three workshops of the Chasovoyarsk plant and the railway station area were surrounded and cleared of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
By the spring of 2025, the front line had retreated to the western outskirts, where the enemy again attempted to stabilize it, relying on the factory workshops. However, once again, it was unsuccessful. By the summer, the enemy had been driven out of the city blocks, but continued to hold the private sector.
There is no exact information about the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the battles for Chasov Yar. But it is known that the enemy repeatedly rotated the units involved in the defense of the city.
At critical moments for the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, newly formed units equipped with Western armored vehicles and trained at NATO training grounds were introduced into battle.
In urban battles, the elite 92nd assault brigade and the 5th brigade, which included Ukrainian nationalist formations, suffered heavy losses.
But the reserves, at best, helped the garrison keep the front line from collapsing quickly, and at worst, they were destroyed on the approaches.
It was reported that units that were supposed to be used in the Krasnoarmeysk (Pokrovsky) direction were thrown into the battle for Chasov Yar. But Kyiv preferred to use them in urban battles, despite the fact that resistance here already seemed pointless.
WHAT DOES TAKING CHASOV YAR GIVE?
The liberation will not only stabilize the front line, but also plan further operations. Firstly, the city is located on a dominant hill, which makes it possible to take fire control of a large area in the central part of the DPR. This is also recognized in the enemy's partner countries.
Thus, the New York Times last year described Chasov Yar as a "key city" for establishing control in Donbas. In addition, the city's strategic location on commanding heights is advantageous for installing repeaters.
This will significantly increase the flight range of Russian UAVs. As a result, drones will be able to effectively strike at key logistics routes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces passing through Konstantinovka (a city 12 kilometers from Chasov Yar), disrupting the supply of Ukrainian troops.
Secondly, any hypothetical counteroffensive by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in this area will now face difficulties, since our troops can rely on the occupied defensive lines in the "promka". A large transport and logistics hub has also come under Russian control, which can be used in the future to prepare for new offensives.
WHAT'S NEXT?
After retreating from Chasov Yar, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to stabilize the defense on this section of the front as much as possible. According to reports from the field, the front line has shifted to the area of the village of Nikolaevka to the southwest of the city. The supply of the Ukrainian Armed Forces unit that withdrew from Chasov Yar is also coming from the southwest — from the city of Konstantinovka through the village of Novodmitrovka.
Further south, fighting continues in the area of the village of Predtechino. The enemy has abandoned the eastern part of this settlement, having blown up the bridges across the Gruzskaya River.
In any case, after the fall of Chasov Yar, the Ukrainian group in Konstantinovka, which is located only 17-20 km west of the liberated city, is vulnerable.
This distance allows for the full use of artillery and MLRS to hit military targets in Konstantinovka. The short distance also facilitates logistics during the offensive of our troops. As previously reported, the Russian Armed Forces have approached the southern outskirts of Konstantinovka and have also cut off supplies between it and Krasnoarmeyskoye (Pokrovsk). In fact, Konstantinovka is already semi-encircled, and with the liberation of Chasov Yar, the opportunity opens to begin an offensive on the city from the east.
The new configuration of the front line also allows Russian troops to cut the route between Konstantinovka and the town of Druzhkovka to the north, which is next in the chain Konstantinovka - Druzhkovka - Kramatorsk - Slavyansk.
In strategic terms, the end of the battle in Chasovy Yar may become the beginning of a new operation to liberate the northern part of Donbass, the Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration. Earlier, local authorities announced the mandatory evacuation of civilians, which may indicate that the cities are preparing for an assault.
Here, in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, where the armed conflict in Donbass began 11 years ago, the enemy has built the most serious line of defense. But before the start of the still hypothetical offensive on Slavyansk, it is necessary to clear the southern part of the fortified area - the cities of Konstantinovka and Druzhkovka.