Ukrainian soldiers have been unable to respond to Russian attacks because of an ammunition shortage, a prominent lawmaker in the country has claimed.
Oleksandra Ustinova, a member of parliament who heads a commission that tracks foreign military aid, told ABC News that Ukrainian artillery units on the frontline have nothing to respond with, as half of Kyiv’s munition stocks have been exhausted.
She also said that the “rapidly diminishing” ammunition supplies are demoralizing soldiers, reportedly making them feel that they do not have the means to fight.
“I’m not exaggerating. It’s hell!” the politician exclaimed. “We are going to lose more positions… We can’t win the war single-handed.”
While Ukraine grapples with dwindling arms supplies, Ustinova claimed that Russia has dramatically increased its defense production to avoid the same mistakes it committed in previous phases of the war.
‘A Big Problem’
The US remains Ukraine’s largest military donor, with more than $40 billion sent to the war-ravaged nation since February 2022.
However, a recent Congressional stalemate stopped more funds going to Kyiv, as some right-wing Republicans have refused to provide more aid to the country.
Earlier this week, the White House warned that the US has only enough authorized funding for one more aid package before Congress would be required to greenlight new contributions to Kyiv.
Slovakia has also declared a halt to more military aid for Ukraine following the election of pro-Russian Robert Fico’s political party.
This turmoil is creating a big problem for Kyiv, as the county heavily relies on Western supplies, top general Oleksandr Tarnavskyi said.
“The volumes we have are not sufficient, given our needs,” he told Reuters. “So, we’re redistributing it. We’re re-planning tasks that we had set for ourselves and making them smaller because we need to provide for them.”
