President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said that Russian forces were throwing “everything they can” at Kyiv’s troops fighting to retake land in the south and east, again emphasising the gruelling nature of a counteroffensive that is moving more slowly than some allies had hoped.

Ukrainian troops have made only small gains since launching the widely anticipated campaign in June, and in recent weeks, they appear to have stalled in some areas in the face of staunch Russian defences. Casualties are mounting, and American officials have said that Ukraine has also lost newly provided Western armoured vehicles in the field after field of land mines.

Zelensky, who has defended the pace of the counteroffensive, said in his overnight address late Friday that he had had a “detailed” meeting earlier in the day with his top commanders to discuss the front lines and “logistics” — including weapons and the “rational use of shells, supplies from partners,” an apparent reference to the rate at which Ukraine’s forces are expending ammunition.

“We must all understand very clearly — as clearly as possible — that the Russian forces on our southern and eastern lands are investing everything they can to stop our warriors,” he said. “Every thousand meters of advance, every success of each of our combat brigades deserves gratitude.”

Zelensky has repeatedly pressed his western allies for increasingly sophisticated weapons, and he secured new pledges this week from allies at the Nato summit in Lithuania, including long-range missiles from France and more tank ammunition from Germany. But it was not immediately clear how soon those weapons would arrive, or how significant a boost they could provide for the counteroffensive.

The US has acknowledged that Ukrainian forces are running low on ammunition, which was one reason that President Joe Biden agreed last week over the objections of allies to send cluster munitions to Ukraine.

The weapons are highly dangerous for civilians and are outlawed by all but a few countries, including the US, Russia and Ukraine.

While the cluster munitions have started arriving in Ukraine, American officials and military analysts have warned that they probably will not be an immediate help.

Ukraine’s top commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, told The Washington Post in an interview published on Friday that his military was still lacking the necessary resources to defeat Russia and criticized allies who have argued that it does not need F-16s.

The defence ministers of Denmark and the Netherlands announced this past week that they had gathered 11 countries to help train Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets as soon as next month. Biden agreed in May to drop his objections to giving Ukraine F-16s, though that may not happen until next year.

New York Times News Service