The US has warned that Russia could seize Ukraine’s key eastern town of Avdiivka which is the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in recent months.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, while citing Ukraine’s ammunition shortages, said “Avdiivka is at risk of falling into Russian control.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had vowed to do everything to “save as many Ukrainian lives as possible”.
Russian troops have made gains in Avdiivka, threatening to encircle it.
The town, which has been almost completely destroyed is seen as a gateway to nearby Donetsk, the regional Ukrainian capital seized by Russian-backed fighters in 2014 and later illegitimately annexed by Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022.
At Thursday’s briefing in Washington, Mr Kirby said Avdiivka could fall largely “because the Ukrainian forces on the ground are running out of artillery ammunition”.
“Russia is sending wave after wave of conscript forces to attack Ukrainian positions,” he said.
“And because Congress has yet to pass the supplemental bill, we have not been able to provide Ukraine with the artillery shells that they desperately need to disrupt these Russian assaults.
“Russian forces are now reaching Ukrainian trenches in Avdiivka, and they’re beginning to overwhelm Ukrainian defences.”
Earlier this week, the US Senate approved a $95bn (£75) foreign aid packages which include $60bn for Ukraine after months of political wrangling, but it faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives.
Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to be able to continue fighting Russia, a much bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition.
Nato Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that the US failure to approve continued military assistance to Ukraine was already having an impact on the battlefield.
In his video address late on Thursday, President Zelensky said: “We are doing everything we can to ensure that our warriors have enough managerial and technological capabilities to save as many Ukrainian lives as possible.”
On Friday, Zelensky is visiting Berlin and Paris where is expected to sign security pacts with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Late on Thursday, Ukrainian General Oleksandr Tarnavsky admitted that “fierce battles” were taking place “within” Avdiivka.
“We value every piece of Ukrainian land, but the highest value and priority for us is the preservation of the life of a Ukrainian soldier,” he said.
Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s military spokesman Dmytro Lykhoviy acknowledged that Ukrainian troops in Avdiivka were being forced to “sometimes move to more advantageous positions in some places leaving positions”.
Some Ukrainian soldiers have privately admitted the town could fall at any moment.
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