Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday that vital US weapons were starting to arrive in Ukraine in small amounts and that the process needed to move faster as advancing Russian forces were trying to take advantage, Paralel.Az reports citing The Guardian.

The Ukrainian president told a joint press conference in Kyiv alongside visiting Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg that the situation on the battlefield directly depended on the speed of ammunition supplies to Ukraine.

“Timely support for our army. Today I don’t see anything positive on this point yet. There are supplies, they have slightly begun, this process needs to be sped up,” he said.

The US passed a $61bn aid package last week, ending months of congressional deadlock and raising hopes in Kyiv that its critically low stocks of artillery shells would soon be replenished.

“The Russian army is now trying to take advantage of a situation when we are waiting for supplies from our partners … and that is exactly why the speed of deliveries means stabilising the front,” Zelenskiy said. “Russia is preparing for offensive actions,” he added.