Ukrainska Pravda shows images of how Chasiv Yar looks like after 5 months of Russian offensive

UP journalists recorded what the centre of the Chasiv Yar looks like, as the town in Donetsk Oblast has been under intense attack by the Russian military for five months. It used to be home to 14,000 people, but now it is part of the battlefield and a strategically important height to deter the offensive on the adjacent Kramatorsk agglomeration. Source: UP journalists, Serhii Chaus, mayor of Chasiv Yar, in a comment to UP

Details: Based on the observations of UP journalists who have been covering the Russian offensive on Chasiv Yar since February, the number of damaged high-rise buildings, cars burnt by FPV (first-person view) drone attacks, and trees broken in half has increased.

It is impossible to cross to the part of the city located across the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal. A local resident named Andriy told UP: " We no longer go there, Russia is there." However, we know from the military in the area that there are still positions of the Defence Forces across the canal. Despite regular Russian bombardment, local residents remain in the town.

Mayor Serhii Chaus said that as of 25 June, there were about 650 of them. The locals live in the basements of high-rise buildings and go to the 'invincibility centre' [a heated premises stocked with food and power banks to assist residents facing hardships due to power cuts - ed.] for humanitarian aid. There is only one place in the city where you can get drinking water.

Otherwise, you have to wait for volunteers to bring it in bottles.

There is no communication in the town, only occasional mobile phone coverage. Chasiv Yar residents send messages to their relatives, including children abroad, through a local volunteer, Yevhen Tkachov, a member of the UN Refugee Agency's Proliska humanitarian mission. The only way to get around the city is by bicycle.

On one occasion, UP journalists saw two young men with backpacks on their bicycles evacuating from Chasiv Yar towards the neighbouring settlement of Kostiantynivka.

The journalists also met people who had evacuated to the adjacent, relatively peaceful settlements, but these locals regularly go to Chasiv Yar by car to check if their house is still standing.

Photos: UP journalists Olha Kyrylenko and Alex Klymov from Chasiv Yar

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