Ukrainian unit says frontline fighting 'difficult'

Fighting around a strategic town in eastern Ukraine has become "extremely difficult", according to a Ukrainian military unit redeployed to defend it.

Officials from Ukraine's 24th Mechanized Brigade said they have been sent to the town of Chasiv Yar, as Russia continues to launch "mass frontal attacks" on the key settlement.

Chasiv Yar sits to the west of Bakhmut and has been the focus of intense Russian attacks since February, after nearby Aviivka fell to Moscow's forces.

The deployment comes as Moscow said it had shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones in parts of Russia and occupied Crimea overnight, with officials saying one person was killed in the attack.

Russia's advance in the Donbas has been steadily gaining momentum since the beginning of 2024, with Kyiv's under-resourced forces struggling to hold the line.

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, its declared goal was to seize the entire Donbas region, made up of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Moscow's forces seem to have focussed their recent attacks on Chasiv Yar, which had a pre-war population of around 12,000 people. Losing the hilltop town would make Ukrainian cities in Donbas even more vulnerable to Russian attack.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian capture of Chasiv Yar would be “operationally significant”. It would give Moscow's forces favourable positions from which to launch offensives against Kostyantynivka and Druzhkivka, cities that form the southern portion of a Ukrainian defensive belt.

Since dawn on Friday, Russia has made three attempts to approach troops near Chasiv Yar and Klishchiivka, Ukraine’s General Staff said in an operational update.

The 24th Mechanized Brigade, which has been redeployed to Chasiv Yar, said on Thursday evening: "The situation in and around the town is extremely difficult."

"The enemy is constantly organising massive frontal assaults, and also trying to bypass the settlement from the north and south.” It added that Russian forces were “mercilessly shelling” the area.

Ukraine's setbacks over the past several months have seen the US forced to re-evaluate its position on the use of donated weapons against Russian territory.

The Pentagon granted permission to Kyiv's forces to launch US-supplied weapons at military targets in Russia anywhere across the border - not just in Russian territory near to Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine.

The authorisation was given by President Joe Biden last month, with officials at the time saying it only applied to targets near the city. The Pentagon has now said it is not limited to areas near Kharkiv.

Separately, authorities in Selydove, a town further south in the Donetsk region, said two people had been killed and three wounded in a Russian airstrike. The regional governor has called for people to evacuate.

Meanwhile, Russia said it had shot down more than 100 Ukrainian drones and destroyed six unmanned boats in a wave of overnight attacks.

Officials in Krasnodar – one of the most heavily targeted regions - say administrative buildings at an oil refinery in Ilsky were set alight. Two people were injured and the fire has since been put out.

One person was killed by falling debris in Krasnodar city, the local governor said.

Ukraine’s General Staff said its defence forces had “successfully hit a number of oil refining facilities and other important targets” in the attack.

It said drones attacked the Afipsky, Ilsky, Krasnodar and Astrakhan oil refineries, and strikes were carried out on radar stations and electronic intelligence centres in the Bryansk region and occupied Crimea.