Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy (2nd left) and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov (left) visit frontline positions at an undisclosed location in eastern Ukraine on February 14.
Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on economic and military aid from its Western allies, has been facing a shortage of ammunition and military equipment on the battlefield and air-defense systems to protect its civilians and infrastructure pounded daily by Russian shelling and drone attacks.
As Russia's unprovoked invasion nears the two-year mark, depleted Ukrainian forces have been conserving dwindling ammunition as desperately needed U.S. military aid is being held back by Republican lawmakers in Washington.
Comment: "Unprovoked."
"The operating environment is extremely complex and intense. Russian occupiers continue to step up their efforts and have a large advantage in personnel numbers," Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy wrote on Facebook on February 14, a day after visiting the front line together with Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.
"On the Avdiyivka front, only during the last day, the units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled 29 attacks by the Russian occupiers," wrote Syrskiy, who was appointed to lead Ukraine's military less than a week ago by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
After a largely failed counteroffensive last year, Ukrainian forces have been stretched on a front line of roughly 1,000 kilometers in the east.
Syrskiy said the Russians were employing aerial bombardment combined with mortar and heavy artillery fire to attack the positions of the Ukrainian military in addition to waves of infantry attacks that he called "flesh storms."
Syrskiy's assessment came as 31 NATO allies and 23 other allies of Ukraine met in Brussels on February 14 to discuss further military assistance for Kyiv.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin opened the meeting of the U.S.-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), also known as the Ramstein format, by saying the United States will "continue to dig deep" to provide military aid to Ukraine.
Austin said the contact group would work on resourcing some of Ukraine's most critical near-term needs, "including its urgent need for more artillery, ammunition, and air defense missiles."
The U.S. defense secretary chaired the meeting virtually. He said he intended to be at the meeting in person but had to cancel his trip after being hospitalized earlier this week following a diagnosis of prostate cancer in December. Austin told the contact group he was in "good condition" and his "cancer prognosis remains excellent."
In his opening remarks he did not mention the $95.34 billion military aid package that passed the U.S. Senate on February 13 but has not yet been taken up by the House of Representatives.
The bill includes $61 billion for Ukraine to restart shipments of weapons and ammunition that have been suspended since December. European allies have stepped up their support, agreeing on February 1 to a 50 billion euro ($54 billion) economic and military aid package for Ukraine, but the loss of regular shipments of military equipment from the United States is having an impact on the battlefield.
U.S. national-security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House that Ukrainian troops are starting to run out of ammunition.
"We've been increasingly getting reports of Ukrainian troops rationing or even running out of ammunition on the front lines" as Russian forces attack from the ground and the air, Sullivan said.
It's not clear when or if the House will take up the funding to restart regular shipments. House Speaker Mike Johnson (Republican-Louisiana) has indicated that it could be weeks or months. Johnson criticized the package even before the vote in the Senate because it lacks provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border.
Johnson met with Republicans behind closed doors on February 14, saying afterward at a news conference that the Republican-led House will not be "jammed or forced into passing a foreign aid bill."
President Joe Biden on February 13 strongly urged Republicans in the House to pass the bill, saying its failure would only benefit Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The gathering of the contact group is to be followed by a meeting of the alliance's defense ministers.
Facing a Ukrainian defense that increasingly lacks ammunition and sufficient air defenses, Russia has in recent weeks stepped up its shelling and drone attacks on Ukrainian civilian settlements and infrastructure, causing numerous victims and damage.
On February 14, Russian shelling killed at least three people, including a child, and wounded 12 others in the city of Selydove in the eastern Donetsk region, the local council reported, adding that four of the wounded were also children.
Local authorities said nine apartment blocks and the city hospital were also damaged during the shelling.
Comment: According to Syrsky, Ukraine has "transitioned" from offensive to defensive operations. Pot calling the cattle black at best, pathological projection at worst. This is coming from the guy branded by his own troops as a "butcher" for his high attrition rates.