ISW: The occupiers began a new series of assaults in the Bakhmut direction

ISW: The occupiers began a new series of assaults in the Bakhmut direction

Russian troops intensified their efforts west of Bakhmut to capture Chasiv Yar. They advanced to the eastern outskirts of this city in the Donetsk region.

This was reported by analysts from the American Institute for the Study of War .

Russian bloggers claimed that Russian troops had advanced north of Vesele (northeast of Bakhmut). Units of the Russian motorized rifle brigade, supported by another unit of airborne troops, have advanced in the Vyimky area (northeast of Bakhmut) and are trying to advance in the Spirne area.

The occupiers intensified their efforts to the west of Bakhmut to capture Chasiv Yar. On 5 April, Russian bloggers stated that Russian troops had advanced to the eastern edge of the Kanal neighbourhood and near it (the easternmost part of Chasiv Yar on the eastern side of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas Canal) and advanced to the northeastern edge of the Canal near the railway.

The commander of a Ukrainian battalion operating in the Bakhmut sector stated that Russian troops had launched a new wave of offensives in the Bakhmut sector. The commander stated that Russian troops were concentrating their efforts in the area of Chasiv Yar and continuing to assault Ivanivske as part of their efforts to outflank Ukrainian positions in Chasiv Yar.

Positional fighting continued elsewhere in the Bakhmut sector on 5 April. Ukraine’s General Staff reported that Russian troops unsuccessfully attacked west of Bakhmut in the area of Ivanivske and southwest of Bakhmut in the area of Andriivka, Klishchiyivka and Zelenopillya.

Source: Institute for the Study of War

Other key findings from the Institute for the Study of War

• The Ukrainian Security Service and Ukrainian troops carried out one of the largest series of drone strikes against military targets in Russia on the night of April 4-5, targeting at least four Russian air bases.
• The recent increase in the pace of Russian offensive operations in Ukraine will likely lead to increased losses of manpower and equipment, but the Russian Ministry of Defence appears to be successfully compensating for these losses
• Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal noted that Ukraine is beginning to recruit new units, but needs further military assistance from the West to properly equip them.
• Ukrainian officials continue to warn that Russian troops are systematically and increasingly using chemical weapons and other possibly banned chemicals in Ukraine.
• Russia has carried out thousands of cyberattacks on the railway transport infrastructure of the Czech Republic and other European states as part of a broader attempt to degrade transport logistics among NATO countries since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Russian troops recently made a confirmed advance near Avdeevka amid trench fighting along the entire contact line on April 5
• The Russian defense industry continues to mobilize to meet the needs of the Russian army in Ukraine.