KYIV—The Ukrainian military claimed on Friday the battlefield situation was tense near the eastern town of Chasiv Yar, but denied Russian reports that Moscow’s troops had reached its suburbs.
Russian forces are inching forward in the east after capturing Ukraine’s long-time eastern bastion of Avdiivka in February.
A rapid capture of Chasiv Yar, a town with a pre-war population of 12,200 situated west of the ruined, Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut, would mark a grim setback for Kyiv and indicate mounting Russian battlefield momentum.
Russia’s RIA news agency cited an official as saying Russian troops had entered the suburbs of the town, which Moscow sees as an important staging point for Kyiv’s troops that is also heavily fortified.
Andriy Zadubinnyi, spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern command claimed the report was untrue.
“The situation there is very difficult, the fighting continues, but they (Russian troops) are not there,” he said by telephone. “Don’t believe the Russian reports.”
He later told Reuters he had meant to describe the situation as “tense” and not “very difficult.”
On Thursday, Serhii Chaus, the mayor, described the situation in Chasiv Yar as the most difficult since Russia began its invasion more than two years ago, in comments broadcast by the Ukrainian Espreso TV channel.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Russia may plan to stage a new offensive against Ukraine in late May or summer, but that Kyiv has a battlefield plan of its own.
Russia has stepped up its long-range air strikes on energy infrastructure in recent weeks, causing large-scale outages in parts of the country.
After taking the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka in February, Russian forces have tried to advance slowly.
