US Warns Ukraine Against Wasting Ammunition Amid Planned Offensive - Reports

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th March, 2023) The United States has warned Ukraine that its non-stop artillery firing amid an effort to hold the eastern city of Bakhmut could jeopardize its plans for a spring offensive, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing officials.

US and European officials consider such a pace of ammunition use unsustainable, the newspaper said. One of the US officials told The Times that the Americans had warned Ukraine against wasting ammunition at a key time.

As the US and the United Kingdom are set to send thousands of artillery rounds and rockets to support Ukraine's potential offensive, a senior US defense official called it a "last-ditch effort," noting that Kiev's allies do not have enough ammunition to keep up with Ukraine's pace, the newspaper said.

Moreover, several Pentagon officials told the newspaper that the casualties have been so severe among Ukrainian military that they have to decide whether to send units to hold Bakhmut or use them during the offensive.

Separately, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that the US is depleting prepositioned munition supplies in Israel, South Korea, Germany and Kuwait, as Ukrainian troops burn through more than 90,000 rounds a month of 155mm ammunition.

The hotly contested town of Bakhmut is key to supplying Ukrainian troops in the Ukrainian-occupied parts of the Donetsk People's Republic. However, over the past months, the town has come closer to its complete encirclement by Russian forces.

The Financial Times reported last week that Ukraine was taking heavy losses in the battle for Bakhmut, adding that some Ukrainian servicemen had suggested it might be reasonable to retreat. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also said that it would not be an "operational or strategic setback" if the Ukrainian army withdrew from the city.