Bakhmut. Avdiivka. The names of Ukrainian defeats are still fresh in the memory. Bloody battles cost thousands of human lives on both fronts and carnage reminiscent of those of the World Wars. But it’s not enough for the Tsar. Now in Vladimir Putin’s sights is Chasiv Yar.
Strategic, important, with its colorful houses, the scent of wisteria in spring and the deep snow in winter that bends the branches of the trees along the avenues, the main square with the Palace of Culture and the monument to the fallen of the Second World War, for more than a month this town has been living with 20 thousand Russian soldiers at its gateswhich press and bombard relentlessly.
Irony of fate. «Chasiv Yar» means «quiet water», the name was given to it by the Turks who in ancient times established settlements «in the Don and Siverskyi Donetsk basin», Igor said while the bombs continued to fall over our heads. A year has passed. Who knows if Igor is still alive and still goes on his bicycle to bring cigarettes to the soldiers. And who knows how much longer Chasiv Yar will be able to resist. Among the few in Ukraine to have the privilege of being on high groundprotected to the east by the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal, at the time called Hruzke or Pleshcheieve, was founded in 1876, by a Russian nobleman who built a clay extraction plant here.
Fast forward to 1938, when Chasiv Yar gained city status in Soviet times, and to World War II, when it was occupied by the Germans from 1941 to 1943. Now it has been under siege for a month. But the Russians have been tormenting her since the summer of 2022. First to divert Kiev’s forces from Bakhmut, and today because – explain Ukrainian intelligence sources to Courier — «Putin wants a military victory on the anniversary of Russia’s victory over Nazi-fascism, May 9th». The Kremlin’s objective is to hoist the Russian flag on the monument to the fallen of the Second World War and thus feed the greedy propaganda machine. But not only. Taking Chasiv Yar to Moscow means opening your way to Kostiantynivka, Druzhkivka, Sloviansk. And above all Kramatorsk, a fundamental railway hub of the Donbassimportant for the supplies of weapons and raw materials.
Time is a tyrant for those who attack. According to the Institute for the Study of War, the Russians are trying «to take advantage of the window of time before military aid arrives unblocked by the vote in Congress.” Strengthened by fire superiority (10 to 1 is the ratio at the moment), beyond the scarcity of supplies, the Russians also try to leverage Ukrainian numerical inferiority. «The situation for our troops has worsened, while the Russian armed forces are achieving tactical successes in various areas», admitted yesterday the head of the Kiev army Oleksandr Syrsky, explaining that Russia is “attacking along the entire front line continuously and successfully.” Syrsky, the same general accused of having caused too many young people to die in Bakhmut and of having withdrawn from Avdiivka only for political calculation. Chasiv Yar, however, is not easy prey. Since 2014 it has been under the control of Kiev. “Ukrainian fortifications, terrain and the canal limit how mechanized units can be used,” the source continues. To take it, then, 20 thousand men are not enough. “You need double that,” she concludes. And even if for a regime finding more “human material” to sacrifice is never a big problem, after three years it is becoming complicated for Putin too.
Looking at Chasiv Yar one might think that, whatever happens, it is unlikely to return to being “quiet water”. 80 percent of the buildings are damaged. There are very few civilians left now. Of the 12 thousand there were, today there are 700 according to Serhii Chaus, head of the city’s military administration, who became mayor after the escape of his predecessor who fled in the aftermath of the Russian invasion. Those who remain are only the elderly and the soldiers who die by the dozens every day in the stabilization points for the wounded. All the children were evacuated. And among the tree-lined avenues you can no longer hear laughter. And the sky of Chasiv Yar is now only the sound of Russian bombs.
