The arms race intensifies as Western powers scramble to supply arms to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Western backers pledged at a meeting on Tuesday to keep the vast amounts of ammunition and arms Kyiv needs flowing to the frontline as Russia battled for the devastated city of Bakhmut.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has knuckled down on his plea for Western aircraft after securing commitments for tanks, air defence, and precision missiles.

But allies meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels remained focused on ensuring his forces have the ammunition, armoured vehicles, and air defences they need on the ground to push back renewed Russian offensives.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said the priorities were to protect his country’s skies, bolster promised tank supplies and ensure ammunition stocks.

“Russia has lost, they’ve lost strategically, operationally and tactically, and they are paying an enormous price on the battlefield,” top U.S. General Mark Milley said after meeting more than 50 countries.

Ukraine’s Western supporters — spearheaded by the United States — have already supplied billions of dollars of arms to help Kyiv hold Moscow back.

Now, just under a year into the war, NATO says Russian President Vladimir Putin appears to be starting a broader new offensive in east Ukraine. Mercenaries of the Wagner group have spearheaded the Russian assault on Bakhmut.