Members of Ukraine’s 72nd Brigade Anti-air unit stand on the back of a ZU-23 anti-aircraft autocannon while using binoculars to search for incoming Russian drones at a front-line position on Feb. 23, 2024, near Marinka, Ukraine. (Chris McGrath, Getty Images/TNS)
(Tribune News Service) — Ukraine’s armed forces are trying to fortify their defenses along the front line as Russia seeks to press home its advantage in manpower and ammunition.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late Monday that Ukraine is digging trenches and erecting barriers along the 1,200 mile front where his forces are struggling with an acute shortage of ammunition.
Ukraine’s military is being squeezed by a standoff in Congress since late year, which has seen House Republicans block President Joe Biden’s efforts to release $61 billion of funding. At the same time, Russian forces have been advancing again on the battlefield and last month captured the eastern city of Avdiivka, their biggest gain in almost a year.
That shift in momentum is fueling concerns in Kyiv and among its allies that Ukraine could suffer more damaging reverses this year.
“They’re running out of ammunition, and we’re running out of time to help them,” Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns told U.S. senators on Monday. “Ukraine is likely to lose ground — and likely significant ground — in 2024.”
Zelenskyy on Monday said that Russian gains have been limited since the fall of Avdiivka in February, while underlining that the defensive lines may not hold out unless his troops get more weapons.
“The advance of Russia has been stopped,” Zelenskyy said in an interview with the French broadcaster BFM TV. “The situation is much better that it was during recent three months.”
While Russian forces marginally advanced in several areas along the front line, both troops are locked in positional fighting, the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy’s top general, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said last month that Russia’s capture of Avdiivka was compounded by mistakes by front line commanders which he said have now been addressed.
Ukraine’s European allies have been trying to offer respite by speeding up arms supplies. They have lined up funding for a Czech-led initiative to purchase hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds and those shells could start to arrive within weeks.
The U.K.’s Defense Ministry said Sunday that Kyiv is “almost certainly” bolstering its defenses with anti-tank barriers known as dragon’s teeth, ditches, trenches and minefields.
“It is highly likely the expansion of defensive lines will reduce Russia’s ability to advance or exploit tactical gains as part of its ongoing offensive operations,” the ministry said in a defense intelligence update on social platform X.
With assistance from Samy Adghirni.
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