Ukraine is in a “dire” situation on the frontline as many men are refusing to fight as aid from the US makes its way to Kyiv slowly.

Soldiers on the frontline are yet to feel the effect of US weapons after Washington lawmakers approved the $61billion (£50billion) military aid for Ukraine.

Fighting in the east of Ukraine is getting increasingly difficult as Russia threatens to take more territory from the under-armed and exhausted Ukrainian troops.

Ukrainian army chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said in a post on Telegram: “The situation at the front has worsened… In general, the enemy has succeeded tactically in these directions but has failed to achieve an operational advantage.”

Ed Arnold, senior fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), told Euronews: “It really is quite dire for the Ukrainians now.

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“The real challenge for the Ukrainians is they haven’t fully set defensive lines, as we saw the Russians do that last winter.”

Oleksandr Matiash, a Ukrainian officer who has fought in Avdiivka added: “We will win this war, but the losses will be critical for Ukraine.

“We don’t have enough people. At the start of the war, we had 38 million – too many people left. Some of them don’t want to fight, some of them can’t fight. And if we lose too many people, we just can’t defend our country, so we need help.

“The situation is like World War II when there was an invasion by Germany in Poland – I see the same situation – if we wouldn’t stop Russia on the Ukrainian border, war will go into Europe – that’s my prognosis”.

The worrying comments come after NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg admitted last week that Ukraine “has been outgunned for months… fewer Russian missiles and drones have been shot down, and Russia has been able to push forward on the front line”.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is facing “a new stage” in the war.

He said: “The occupier is now preparing to expand its offensive. And all of us — Ukrainians, soldiers, state, partners — must do everything to disrupt Russia‘s offensive plan.

“We must prove that the occupier will not succeed in achieving its goals under any circumstances, no matter what it does and no matter how cruelly it acts. Ukraine will prevail anyway.”