Ukrainian troops began running out of ammunition as U.S. assistance has largely stopped flowing, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Feb. 14, urging Congress to pass additional funding.
A foreign aid bill containing $60 billion for Ukraine has finally passed the U.S. Senate after months of protracted negotiations. The funding has yet to be approved by the Republican-led House of Representatives, where it is likely to face even stiffer opposition.
"We cannot afford to wait any longer. Every day comes at a cost to the people of Ukraine and to the national security interests of the United States of America," Sullivan said during a press briefing at the White House.
"The stakes are getting higher. The costs of inaction are also getting higher every day."
According to Sullivan, Washington is increasingly "getting reports of Ukrainian troops rationing, or even running out of ammunition on the front lines, as Russian forces continue to attack both on the ground, and from trying to wear down Ukrainian air defenses."
The White House, as well as Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate, have repeatedly urged the House to pass the bill.
The situation on Ukraine's battlefields remains difficult as Russia is ramping up pressure at the eastern front, namely at Avdiivka. Ukrainian defense leaders have repeatedly warned that without U.S. assistance, they are forced to ration munition.
"Russia vastly outnumbers us in daily artillery attacks. At different areas of the front and stages of hostilities, they fired five to 10 times more artillery shells than the Ukrainian forces," Ukraine's Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said in January.
The Kyiv Independent news desk
