(Dan Tri) – The battle for the city of Chasov Yar took place fiercely.
The war in Ukraine has entered its third year with the initiative belonging to Russia (Illustration: Skynews).
How does terrain affect Russia’s attack plans?
The entire terrain west of the city of Bakhmut is an area of higher altitude and Chasov Yar is located on the highest hill.
The Ukrainian army relied on these high points and canals to build a system of defensive fortifications, using the core urban area of Chasov Yar as the center of defense.
Chasov Yar had a pre-war population of more than 12,000 people, a size comparable to cities such as Marinka, Ugledar (Vuhleda) and Soledar.
The so-called urban center is a term that bears the characteristics of city areas built during the Soviet period.
If the Russians were to capture Chasov Yar, they essentially had to capture this central residential area.
However, the buildings in the central area are mostly high-rises and have been turned into fortified defensive positions by the Ukrainian army;
After capturing a series of positions east of the canal subdivision, Russian troops can attack the center of Chasov Yar in three directions: North along the railway line;
The northern and central directions of attack will converge in the eastern sub-region, while the southern and northern directions of the T-0504 highway have a small mountain called Baba Mountain, preventing Russian troops from approaching.
Therefore, the western attack of the Russian army actually occupied the northern sub-region first, and then occupied Baba Mountain in the south.
The attack tactics of the Russian army at Chasov Yar are also noteworthy, when the 98th Airborne Division was attacking the village of Ivanivske, south of Chasov Yar, suddenly launched a dangerous attack, extremely straight into the sub-district.
In front of the starting position of the Russian army’s attack is the forest belt and also the front line of defense of the Ukrainian army.
As a result, this group of paratroopers broke through the forest belt area, reached the eastern edge of the sub-zone and successfully established a bridgehead here.
To the south, at Ivanivske, the Russians first expanded the buffer zone on the western edge of the village, then moved north to attack Mount Baba.
On April 5, with the successful raid on the canal subdivision, the starting position of the Moscow forces’ advance along the O-0506 highway was effectively secured.
Therefore, Russia took advantage of the Ukrainian army to retreat deeply, to consolidate bridgehead positions between railway lines and highways, to continue to organize attacks to the north.
Topographic map of Chasov Yar city (Photo: Telegram).
Destroy the weak point of Bohdanivka, break through to Chasov Yar from the north
Bohdanivka is Ukraine’s vital point in the city.
The 200th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Russian Northern Fleet captured the Khromove stronghold at the former Bakhmut gateway, which successfully captured the village of Bohdanivka.
Although the Ukrainian army tried its best to resist, it could not withstand the fierce attack of Brigade 200 and was forced to withdraw towards the village of Kalinivka.
At the same time, to create an offensive position, the Russian army captured the eastern half of Mount Baba and the Russian army could actually attack in four directions to the West:
First, attack from the village of Bodanivka towards the village of Kalinivka;
Second, advance along the railway line to the west, put pressure on the northern flank of the sub-zone, and continue to attack Ukraine’s defense line east of the canal;
Third, attack the Kanal sub-district area along O-0506 road;
Fourth, after capturing Mount Baba, the Russians can simultaneously protect the northern flank during the attack on the district and support the attack from the T-0504 highway, piercing the southern flank of Chasov Yar
Currently, Russian troops have advanced to positions 1,500 to 2,500 meters from the canal and are likely to attack Chasov Yar directly from the southern flank.
Of course, the area outside the canal itself is also part of Chasov Yar, so now of course it can be said that the battle for the city is in its most fierce phase.
But the immediate task of the Russian army is still quite arduous.
In the immediate future, the Russian Army needs to occupy the entire area east of the canal, to establish a starting position for further attacks to the west.
Although the area outside the canal is not large, it is an area of high-rise buildings. According to previous experience, this type of target is more difficult to attack than normal villages.
Because it is located on the highest area, the city of Chasov Yar is divided by many hills and forest belts.
Of course, the Ukrainian army in Chasov Yar not only defends in the city, but can carry out defense from afar, then gradually withdraw from the eastern and southern flanks to entrench in the city center.
Thus, it can be seen that the fighting intention of the Ukrainian army is to arrange strong defenses in the east and south of the city, and carry out active defense from afar.
Furthermore, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army, General Syrsky continued to increase troops to Chasov Yar.
Of course, because Chasov Yar is extremely important, in this year’s spring-summer campaign, this is the key attack direction of the southern group of forces of the Russian army.
If Chasov Yar and the Ukrainian army’s defense line in the highlands are broken, the most valuable chain of cities that the Ukrainian army is holding in Donbass, the Slavyansk – Kramatorsk belt, will face a direct threat.