Ukraine’s Army Retreats from Positions as Russia Gets Closer to Seizing Strategically Important Town

This handout photograph taken and released by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces on July 4, 2024, shows an aerial view of the destroyed Novyy district in the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / press service of the 24th mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed forces / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces on July 4, 2024, shows an aerial view of the destroyed Novyy district in the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / press service of the 24th mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed forces / AFP)
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Ukraine’s Army Retreats from Positions as Russia Gets Closer to Seizing Strategically Important Town

This handout photograph taken and released by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces on July 4, 2024, shows an aerial view of the destroyed Novyy district in the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / press service of the 24th mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed forces / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by the press service of the 24th Mechanized Brigade of Ukrainian Armed Forces on July 4, 2024, shows an aerial view of the destroyed Novyy district in the town of Chasiv Yar, Donetsk region, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Handout / press service of the 24th mechanized brigade of Ukrainian Armed forces / AFP)

Ukraine’s army has retreated from a neighborhood in the outskirts of Chasiv Yar, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region that has been reduced to rubble under a monthslong Russian assault, a military spokesperson said Thursday.

Chasiv Yar is a short distance west of Bakhmut, which was captured by Russia last year after a bitter 10-month battle. For months, Russian forces have focused on capturing Chasiv Yar, a town which occupies an elevated location. Its fall would put nearby cities in jeopardy, compromise critical Ukrainian supply routes and bring Russia closer to its stated aim of seizing the entire Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian army retreated from a northeastern neighborhood in the town, Nazar Voloshyn, the spokesperson for the Khortytsia ground forces formation, told The Associated Press in a written message Thursday.

Ukraine's defensive positions in the town were "destroyed," he said, adding that there was a threat of serious casualties if troops remained in the area and that Russia did not leave "a single intact building."

Months of relentless Russian artillery strikes have devastated Chasiv Yar, with homes and municipal offices charred, and a town that once had a population of 12,000 has been left deserted.

Oleh Shyriaiev, commander of the 255 assault battalion which has been based in the area for six months, said after Russian troops captured the neighborhood, they burned every building not already destroyed by shelling.

Shyriaiev said Russia is deploying scorched-earth tactics in an attempt to destroy anything which could be used as a military position in a bid to force troops to retreat.

"I regret that we are gradually losing territory," he said, speaking by phone from the Chasiv Yar area, but added, "we cannot hold what is ruined."

Russian troops outnumber Ukrainians 10-to-1 in the area but Shyriaiev suggested that, even with that ratio, they have not been able to make significant progress in the past six months of active fighting.

The intensity of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s defensive line in the area of Chasiv Yar has increased over the last month, Voloshyn said.

In the past week alone, Voloshyn said Russia has carried out nearly 1,300 strikes, fired nearly 130 glide bombs and made 44 ground assaults.

Other Russian attacks in recent weeks have focused on capturing nearby settlements that would allow them to advance to Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, the biggest cities in the Ukrainian-controlled part of the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian commanders in the area say their resources remain stretched, largely due to a monthslong gap in military assistance from the United States which threw Ukraine's military onto the defensive.

Shyriaiev, the assault battalion commander, said ammunition from allies is arriving, but more slowly than needed by the army.

"We are determined to hold on to the end," said the commander, who has been fighting on the front line since the outbreak of the war.

Elsewhere, Russia launched 22 drones over Ukraine the previous night and nearly all of them were shot down, according to the air force’s morning update. One hit a power infrastructure facility in the northern Chernihiv region, leaving nearly 6,000 customers without electricity, said the governor, Viacheslav Chaus.

Russia is continually targeting Ukraine’s badly damaged energy infrastructure, resulting in hours of rolling blackouts across the country. Ukrainian officials have warned that the situation may worsen as winter approaches.



Supporters of Pakistan's Imran Khan Call off Protest

Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
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Supporters of Pakistan's Imran Khan Call off Protest

Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)
Policemen fire tear gas shells to disperse supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party during a protest to demand the release of former prime minister Imran Khan, in Islamabad on November 26, 2024. (Photo by Aamir QURESHI / AFP)

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan's party suspended street protests demanding his release from jail after a sweeping midnight raid by security forces in the capital Islamabad in which hundreds of people were arrested, local media reported on Wednesday.
Broadcaster Geo News, citing a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) statement, said the party had announced a "temporary suspension" of the protest, in which at least six people, including four paramilitary soldiers and two protesters, have been killed.
A PTI spokesperson did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Thousands of protesters had gathered in the center of Islamabad on Tuesday after a convoy, led by Khan's wife Bushra Bibi, broke through several lines of security all the way to the edge of the city's highly fortified red zone.
Geo News and broadcaster ARY both reported that a massive raid was launched by security forces in a pitch-dark central Islamabad, where lights had been turned off and a barrage of teargas was fired. The protest gathering was almost completely dispersed, they reported.
On Wednesday morning, city workers were cleaning up debris and clearing some of the shipping containers that had blocked roads around the capital. The heavily fortified red zone was empty of protesters but several of their vehicles were left behind, including the remains of a truck from which Bushra Bibi had been leading the protests that appeared charred by flames, according to Reuters witnesses.
PTI had planned on staging a sit-in in the red zone until the release of Khan, who has been in jail since August last year.
PTI's president for the city of Peshawar in the party's northern stronghold of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said the party had called off the protest.
"We will chalk out the new strategy later after proper consultation,” Mohammad Asim told Reuters.
He said that Bushra Bibi as well as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, a key Khan ally, had returned "safely" to the province from the capital.
Pakistan's benchmark share index jumped more than 4% in intraday trade on Wednesday, recovering losses made on Tuesday when the index closed 3.6% down over the news of political clashes.
"With valuations remaining highly attractive, we expect the positive momentum to continue going forward," said Tahir Abbas, head of research at Arif Habib Limited, adding that the sharp rebound in the market was due to hopes of political stability restoring investor confidence.