Russian Jets Are Bombing Chasiv Yar Into Rubble
The Ukrainian garrison urgently needs air-defenses
Aiming to repeat its successful destruction of Ukrainian positions in Avdiivka back in February, the Russian air force is bombing Chasiv Yar into oblivion. The eastern town, once home to 12,000 people, is the current locus of Russia’s winter-spring offensive.
Russian jets, presumably Sukhoi Su-34s, are dropping 150 KAB glide-bombs a day all along the 600-mile front line of Russia’s 27-month wider war on Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian Center for Defense Strategies. “Over the past two days, the main targets of aerial strikes were [in] Chasiv Yar,” CDS noted.
Many of the bombs, which range 25 miles or farther on pop-out wings, struck Chasiv Yar’s vulnerable canal district, on the eastern side of the Siversky-Donets-Donbas Canal. The canal threads north to south through the town, and buttresses its defenses.
However, there are two spots north and south of the canal district where the canal passes underground, creating land bridges that are easier for dismounted infantry to cross. The Russians have been storming the land bridges—successfully, in a few cases. But fortunately only briefly.
“Russian troops crossed the Siversky-Donets-Donbas Canal south of Chasiv Yar, where the canal runs underground, but did not secure the western side of the canal,” CDS reported. “Battles persisted.”
Sarah Ashton-Cirillo, an American-born journalist and medic with the Ukrainian territorial forces, recently spent a few days in Chasiv Yar—and experienced firsthand the relentless bombardment. “Carrying all needed supplies, we moved quickly,” Ashton-Cirillo wrote about her journey toward the front line. “Booms and explosions became louder and more frequent. War was at hand.”
“Jets flew over our position from both directions as the small but brave Ukrainian air force made its presence known,” she added. “In contrast to the fighters streaking across the sky, the combination of small-arms fire and various rocket and grenade systems created a never-ending cascade of Hell around us.”
Ukraine’s shortage of ground-based air-defenses—the unavoidable consequence of a six-month blockade of U.S. aid by pro-Russia Republican lawmakers—is well-documented. Still, that there have been Ukrainian jet sorties over Chasiv Yar is a reminder that the town’s garrison isn’t totally defenseless in the air.
The problem, of course, is that the Russian planes launch their KABs from 25 miles away—too far behind Russian lines for Ukrainian planes to reach without exposing themselves to the Russians’ own air-defenses.
So the Russian bombings likely will continue unless and until Ukraine reinforces its ground-based air-defenses—perhaps tapping the first two shipments of munitions, worth a combined $7 billion, that the Americans rushed to Ukraine right after the U.S. Congress finally approved fresh funding two weeks ago.
Even if the Ukrainians manage to stiffen their air-defenses and mitigate the KAB threat, the Russians have a back-up plan for defeating the Chasiv Yar garrison and advancing to the west in this sector. “The adversary may attempt to bypass Chasiv Yar without directly assaulting the city, by operating from the south and southeast,” CDS explained.
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