Bomb prelude: positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Chasovoy Yar are ironed with FABs

Kyiv repeats the “Bakhmut meat grinder”

In Chasovoy Yar in the Artemovsk direction, the night bombing of Ukrainian Armed Forces positions gave way to assault attacks by Russian units, and fighting is already taking place on the outskirts of the city. Experts believe that the fortified area in Chasov Yar could repeat the fate of Avdiivka: the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to hold their positions and will lose their strategic reserves here.

The commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Alexander Syrsky, said that Chasov Yar remains under Ukrainian control, but acknowledged the difficult situation in key sectors of the front. This is how military expert Yuri Podolyaka described the situation on the morning of April 6 in Chasov Yar: “The night for the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers in the Kanal microdistrict traditionally passed to the accompaniment of FABs with “wings” (planning aerial bombs – “MK”), “Msta”, “Peonies”, “Akatsiy” (large-caliber guns – “MK”).

And here’s how one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces officers spoke about Russian high-power glide bombs in an interview with Business Insider: “This puts a lot of pressure on morale. Not all of our guys can handle it. Although they are more or less accustomed to the FAB-500, the FAB-1500 is hell.”

In addition to the high-explosive one-and-a-half-ton FAB-1500 aerial bombs, the Russian Aerospace Forces began to actively use so-called vacuum bombs – volumetric detonating ammunition. Due to the powerful shock wave and sudden pressure drop, they leave no chance for personnel, even if they are in cover.

According to Yuriy Podolyaki, Russian artillery and aviation are taking out the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defense zone near the Seversky Donets-Donbass canal.

At the same time, the expert notes, the number of gliding bombs that are dropped daily on Ukrainian Armed Forces positions in Chasovoy Yar is still in the dozens per day. At the final stage of the battle for Avdeevka, 150 bombs were dropped per day. This means, Podolyaka concludes, “this is still just a prelude.”

In his opinion, Zelensky and his generals are repeating in Chasovoy Yar the mistake made last year in Artemovsk (Bakhmut). Then, in a vain attempt to hold on to the “Bakhmut Fort,” Kyiv burned its strategic reserves in the city. This happened just before the start of the big summer counter-offensive of 2023, which ended in complete fiasco.

At the same time, as Podolyaka noted, “the well-honed tactics of movement (powerful firepower in combination with short bursts of consolidation) does not leave the Ukrainian Armed Forces any chance” of holding Chasov Yar.

At the same time, Zelensky is not satisfied with another military defeat, and therefore he is driving reserves into the city to prevent Chasov Yar from falling.

But our army, the expert noted, today has something that did not exist a year ago – overwhelming superiority in weapons. So the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to hold the city, and they will suffer huge, and essentially meaningless, losses.