“We are doing our best” for the troops fighting Russian forces on the eastern front and especially in the besieged Avdiivka, where the situation is described as “critical”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky assured on Thursday evening.

“We are doing our best to ensure that our soldiers have sufficient administrative and technological capabilities to save as many Ukrainian lives as possible,” Zelensky said after being briefed by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and Ukrainian Armed Forces Chief Oleksandr Sirsky about the situation in Avdiivka and on the eastern front in general.

A few hours earlier, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Abdiivka was at risk of falling into the hands of Russian forces.

For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the impasse in the US Congress regarding the release of new aid to Kiev is already having “effects” on the battlefield in Ukraine.

(With information from Ukrinform)