US President Joe Biden has blamed Russia’s first major battlefield victory in Ukraine in nearly a year on the failure of the US Congress to pass a bill funding Kyiv’s army.
Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the weekend that Ukraine’s withdrawal from the critical eastern town of Avdiivka on Saturday came “after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction”, according to a White House readout of the call.
On Sunday the Kremlin hailed Russia’s capture of the city, its first big victory since taking Bakhmut in May last year, and vowed to press on with its offensive in eastern Ukraine.