KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 19, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - Ukraine said Tuesday its military was 
outgunned in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces have been 
pushing for months to capture the regional hub of Kupiansk.

Russian troops initially captured large swathes of the eastern Kharkiv region 
early in the invasion but Kyiv's forces pushed them back in a lightning 
offensive around one year ago.

"The situation is complicated. We have to fight in conditions of superiority 
of the enemy both in weapons and in the number of personnel," said Oleksandr 
Syrsky, the head of Ukraine's ground forces.

But Syrsky said Ukrainian forces were adapting to the situation on the front 
and ultimately holding the line.

The Russian defence ministry said Tuesday it had repelled eight Ukrainian 
attacks around Kupiansk with artillery support.

He said that Russian forces comprising units recruited from prisons were also 
pushing further south around the war-battered city of Bakhmut, taken by 
Moscow in the summer.

The Institute for the Study of War, a US-based military observation group, 
said in a recent explanatory note that Ukrainian forces were having to ration 
ammunition due to shortages.

"A combination of artillery ammunition shortages and delays in the provision 
of Western security assistance is likely causing Ukrainian forces to husband 
materiel and may delay future Ukrainian counteroffensive operations," it 
said.

Separately, Ukraine said overnight its air defence systems had downed two 
Russian drones over a western region while Moscow said it had destroyed at 
least three Ukrainian drones over the border region of Bryansk.