Governor: 790 people still live in Chasiv Yar

There are currently 790 people remaining in Chasiv Yar, a town just 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the front line in Donetsk Oblast, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported on March 20.

Around 70% of the town, which had a population of 12,000 in January 2022, has been destroyed since the start of the full-scale invasion, Filashkin said.

The vast majority of the remaining population are elderly people who refused evacuation. "We are still providing locals with humanitarian aid," Filashkin said.

Russian attacks on Chasiv Yar regularly kill and injure the civilians left in the town.

The spokesperson of the Khortytsia group of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Illia Yevlash, told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on March 1 that Russia accumulated a large force in the sector and is currently launching a "powerful thrust" toward Chasiv Yar.

Chasiv Yar lies around 10 kilometers west of Bakhmut and 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Avdiivka, two settlements that Russia captured in May 2023 and February 2024 respectively.

The man who refuses to leave his museum-like house in front-line Chasiv Yar

CHASIV YAR, DONETSK OBLAST – In the small town of Chasiv Yar, just several kilometers away from the eastern front of Russia’s war in Ukraine, a rare house has remained intact. Most of the residents have fled to safer areas. Vitalii, 74, has lived in Chasiv Yar his whole life. He

The Kyiv IndependentOlena Zashko