Ukraine’s frontline troops say they are facing intensifying attacks by Putin’s forces – and ammo’s running out

As all eyes are on Israel and Gaza, Askold Krushelnycky speaks to military officers in Ukraine about facing Russian forces from multiple sides in the northern and eastern battlegrounds – and their fears that US support for Israel’s war on Hamas could drain the flow of essential munitions for their fight

Ukrainian artillerymen fire an M777 howitzer towards Russian positions near Avdiivka (AFP via Getty)

While the eyes of the world have turned towards the dreadful scenes in Israel and Gaza, the fighting is fierce across multiple points on the hundreds of miles of front line between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Troops say they are facing Russia’s troops in multiple directions in some areas, while others have said they facing a shortage of ammunition.

The clashes stretch from Ukraine’s northern borders with Russia to southern battlefields in the Zaporizhzhia region, where Kyiv’s forces are trying to punch their way through to the Azov Sea in an effort to break Russia’s land bridge with Moscow-occupied Crimea.

Russia has redeployed significant forces from the south – where the two armies appear to be locked in a bloody, attritional stalemate – further north to threaten towns including Kupyansk, Svatove, Kreminna, Lyman, Siversk and Avdiivka. These towns straddle three regions: in the east, Donetsk and Luhansk, and Kharkiv in the northeast.