Russia seizes initiative on most fronts - media

This is reported by The New York Times.

Over the past week, Russian troops have made small territorial gains in eastern Ukraine, using their numerical superiority in exhausting battles.

The publication suggests that Russia is making this progress at a critical time for Kyiv: "Internal political struggles in Washington and the European Union have blocked the delivery of military and financial aid packages that Ukraine says it desperately needs to hold its line against Russia.”

"The situation on the frontline is currently difficult and gradually deteriorating. Without American ammunition, we are beginning to lose territory that was hard won this summer," said Yehor Cherniev, Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.

The New York Times, on the other hand, believes that Russia's successes are largely the result of the sheer mass of its army.

"I would say that the motto of their attacks is 'We have more people than you have ammunition, bullets, missiles and shells,'" said a major of the Ukrainian National Guard in Avdiivka.

• There were 75 combat engagements in the frontline over the last day. The Ukrainian Armed Forces destroyed 1,040 Russian soldiers and three fighter jets.