Russian forces could also be seen in drone footage inside parts of the town, which is several miles west of Bakhmut, so-called as an order to hunt down and destroy Ukrainian soldiers.
The ministry also said it had cleared more than 4,200 buildings and seized about 50 Ukrainian troops.
There were 12,000 residents of Chasiv Yar before the war; now it is mostly in ruins from years of bombing and artillery bombardment.
Russian forces launched their advance to the town in April 2023, after seizing Bakhmut. Russian losses have been severe due to heavy Ukrainian resistance.
Ukrainian mapping platform DeepState said that fighting was underway and that Ukrainian forces continue to hold the western periphery of the town. It also said that Russia's assertion of control over some neighborhoods was not supported by concrete evidence.
If Russia's assertion is confirmed, the capture of Chasiv Yar would provide it with a strategic headland and put key cities in the Donetsk region — including Slovyansk, Kramatorsk, and Kostyantynivka — at higher risk from further attack.
In nearby Pokrovsk, another strategic town in the Donetsk region, Russian forces have the city surrounded on three sides and are nearing a border with Dnipropetrovsk.
Russian troops have also begun to rely on smaller, more nimble units — some traveling by foot or aboard motorcycles in an effort to not be identified easily from the air and targeted by Ukrainian drones, military analysts say.
Deadly Missile Strike by Russians in Kyiv
Even as ground battles raged in the east, Kyiv experienced one of its deadliest attacks in months. Russian missiles hit the capital early Thursday, killing at least 28 people — including three children.
One missile struck an apartment building in the Sviatoshynskyi district, which was closed off Tuesday as rescuers poked through debris.
Ukraine's emergency services said they had pulled 25 bodies from the debris, with at least 159 people injured and sixteen children treated.
A survivor had been pinned under the collapse for more than three hours, as desperate members of families left at home awaited word about missing loved ones. Other residents, like Zoya Onishenko, were alive only because they happened to be staying the night elsewhere.
One resident, Iryna Tsymokh, recalled the terror as the blast blew off her apartment doors. "My baby was screaming so much … we all just jumped out as is, night clothes and all," she said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky called the strikes a "brutal" response to global pleas for peace and said Russia had intentionally flooded Ukraine's air defenses. More than 300 drones and eight missiles had been fired at the capital, he added.
Destruction is widespread and deep, on the battlefield and in the domiciliary.
