On July 31, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian forces had completely occupied the city of Chasov Yar in Donetsk Oblast. The city had a pre-war population of about 14,400 people and an area of approximately 13 square kilometers. This battle lasted for 483 days. Chasov Yar was an important logistics center for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, including the military ammunition depots, armored vehicle repair bases, and field hospitals. The city is located on a high ground, and capturing this high ground would allow Russian artillery to bombard Konstantinovka, Kramatorsk, and Slavyansk. It took so many days to capture such a small area; how long would it take to capture Slavyansk-Kramatorsk? The Yuan Dynasty took five years to capture Xiangyang, less than a year to capture Ezhou, less than a month to capture Jiankang, and no resistance at Lin'an. Now, the Russia-Ukraine war is a matter of attrition, seeing who can last longer. It must be said that both sides are very tenacious. Chasov Yar is a high ground, and after that, the Russian monitoring equipment, communication equipment, and drone relay equipment can cover the lowlands of Konstantinovka. The next target of the Russian forces is to seize the Konstantinovka area. The encirclement of Konstantinovka by the Russian forces is being formed. If the Russian forces can hold their positions and make progress in the Chasov Yar area, and further advance northward along the line of Novotroitske-Poltavka-Yablovnoye, the failure of the Ukrainian forces on the eastern front of Ukraine is just a matter of time. Whether or not they attack from this direction later, the pressure on the Ukrainian defenders in Konstantinovka is inevitable. The Ukrainian army will be pinned down in this area, losing air superiority, firepower advantage, and drone advantage, and the dilemma of lack of mobile forces will be exacerbated. The formation of a two-pronged attack by the Russian forces on Konstantinovka on the Don River and the start of the Slavyansk arc strategy have been initiated.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1839237439969288/

Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.