Dramatic images from the city of Chasiv Yar: explosions, ruins and rows of haunted houses

New footage obtained by the Associated Press shows the city of Chasiv Yar, which has been under constant shelling by Russian forces for months. Currently, it resembles the ruins of other temporarily occupied Ukrainian cities – Bakhmut and Avdiyivka.

The video captures large-scale destruction: almost no buildings remain intact, while houses and municipal offices are destroyed and blackened from shelling.

The city, once home to 12,000 people, is now almost deserted.

“The strategically important city has been under attack by Russian troops for several months. After occupying it, Russia would be able to control the top of the hill, from which it would have the opportunity to attack other cities forming the backbone of Ukraine’s eastern defense,” AP journalists said.

Footage taken on Monday showed no soldiers or civilians, except for a lone man walking in the middle of the road between destroyed buildings.

The head of the Donetsk region, Vadim Filashkin, said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday that the 682 residents remaining in Chasiv Yar were living in “very difficult conditions”. According to him, water supply and electricity have not been working in the city for more than a year, and it is becoming increasingly difficult for humanitarian aid to reach the city’s residents.

“The destruction reflects the scorched-earth tactics Russia has used during more than two years of war, in which its forces have killed and displaced thousands of civilians,” the AP added.

Earlier, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Oleksandr Syrskyi, stated that the Russian military had been given until May 9. capture the city of Chasiv Yar. The capture of this city would make it possible to move further towards Kramatorsk.

The situation around the city remains difficult at the moment, as the Russians want to surround it and are advancing from three sides at the same time – from the north, south and east.

On Thursday, Oleh Kalashnikov, the spokesman for the 26th Artillery Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, named after Roman Dashkevich, stated on the air of the national telebridge that Russia will not be able to capture the city until the “holiday” of May 9, adding that the Russians have already concentrated all their resources in this direction.

“They can’t get over their heads. They have already focused all their resources in our direction, they are throwing everything they can to find our weak point and break through our defenses,” he explained.

In his opinion, Russia’s “sacred” May 9 will pass without a victory.

“They will fail, they will fail at all by the holy date, and they will again have to come up with a new date and postpone the deadlines so that their electorate expects something,” said a representative of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

In a previously published post, the images from Khasiv Yar were shared by the fighters of the Black Swan Assault Battalion of Ukraine, which is part of the 255th Strike Group of the Armed Forces, which protects the peace of Ukrainians on the Eastern Front.

It shows destroyed church towers, upturned fences, empty windows of high-rise buildings, abandoned children’s playgrounds and piles of rubble.

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