“Avdiivka is at risk of falling into Russian control,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, citing Ukraine’s ammunition shortages.
Earlier this week, the US Senate approved a $95bn (£75bn) foreign aid package - including $60bn for Ukraine - after months of political wrangling, but it faces an uphill battle in the House of Representatives.
Ukraine is critically dependent on weapons supplies from the US and other Western allies to be able to continue fighting Russia - a much bigger military force with an abundance of artillery ammunition.
Nato Secretary General Jen Stoltenberg warned on Thursday that the US failure to approve continued military assistance to Ukraine was already having an impact on the battlefield.
On Friday, Mr Zelensky is visiting Berlin and Paris where is expected to sign security pacts with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We’re upset,” Ukrainian officer Oleksii, from Ukraine’s 110th Mechanised Brigade in the Avdiivka area, told the BBC earlier this week, standing beside a huge mobile artillery piece as Russian guns boomed in the distance.
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