Russian forces have the initiative on the front line and are pushing back their opponents, Shoigu told a ministerial meeting. The pressure prevents Kiev’s troops from holding on to their defensive positions, he added.

The defense minister also addressed America’s expected allocation of over $60 billion in military assistance for Kiev. He noted that the move is intended to “prevent the collapse” of Ukrainian forces, but predicted that the money will not significantly impact the situation on the battlefield, since “most of the funding will go to US military production”.

“The American authorities cynically state that Ukrainians will be dying in the fight with Russia for their interests,” Shoigu stated.

Officials in both Washington and Kiev have argued that paying Ukraine to fight Russia is preferable to the US having to fight Russia directly.

Shoigu hailed Russia’s defense production capacity and flexibility in adapting its military tactics to the combat situation. He said the Defense Ministry will continue long-range attacks on logistics hubs and depots used for supplying Western weapons to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law a radical reform of the mobilization system, meant to boost conscription numbers, which introduces harsh punishments for draft avoidance.

Zelensky stated he considers a proposed mobilization target of 500,000, tabled by Ukraine’s former top general, Valery Zaluzhny, who he dismissed in February, as excessive.

The multi-billion-dollar US aid package was requested by the White House months ago but was only passed by the House of Representatives on Saturday, after Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to it.

The US House of Representatives approved a $95 billion foreign aid package, almost two thirds of which would be spent on Ukraine-related programs. The Kremlin, however, doesn’t appear the slightest bit alarmed.

“Fundamentally, this will not change the situation on the battlefield,” Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Pointing to the steady Russian advances along the front, Peskov said the dynamics of the conflict are now “absolutely clear to everyone,” and that the money and weapons the US will allocate to Ukraine “will not lead to a change in this dynamic.”

“They will lead to new casualties among Ukrainians, more Ukrainians will die, Ukraine will suffer major losses,” the presidential spokesman added.

Moreover, he noted, the bulk of the aid money is supposed to stay in the US, one way or another. The White House itself argued this to Congress as one of the selling points, saying that the package was a stimulus for the US military-industrial complex and manufacturing base.

“In principle, nothing has changed,” Peskov added, noting that Russian President Vladimir Putin fully expected the US lawmakers to vote the way they did.

Reacting to the vote on Saturday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the US was using Ukrainians as “cannon fodder” and hoping to keep Kiev on life support until after the November presidential election. In the end, she said, the US will end up facing a “loud and humiliating fiasco on a par with Vietnam or Afghanistan.”

The newest batch of US aid might help slow down the Russians but won’t stop them, several Ukrainian officers have told Financial Times. No amount of weapons and ammunition from the West can solve Kiev’s biggest problem: the lack of manpower, the outlet noted.

Kirill Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence, also predicted “a rather difficult situation” on the battlefield for the Kiev government in the coming months.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will officially announce the new aid plan when he travels to Warsaw on Tuesday for talks with his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk. The package is valued at £500 million ($617 million) and will include more than 400 vehicles, 60 boats and an undisclosed number of long-range Storm Shadow missiles, Sunak’s office said in a statement, calling it the “largest-ever provision of vital munitions”.

“Defending Ukraine against Russia’s brutal ambitions is vital for our security and for all of Europe,” Sunak claimed.

“If [Vladimir] Putin is allowed to succeed in this war of aggression, he will not stop at the Polish border.”

The latest round of weaponry will bring London’s military aid to Kiev to £3 billion this year alone. It will also include 1,600 strike and air defense missiles and nearly 4 million rounds of small arms ammunition.

“Today’s package will help ensure Ukraine has what they need to take the fight to Russia,” Sunak said, adding, “The United Kingdom will always play its part at the forefront of European security, defending our national interest and standing by our NATO allies.”

The statement comes two days after the US House of Representatives approved a long-stalled emergency spending bill that includes $61 billion in additional Ukraine aid. US President Joe Biden pledged on Monday to quickly ramp up weapons shipments to Kiev once the spending legislation is approved by the Senate, which could happen as soon as Tuesday.

Joe Biden’s administration ran out of Ukraine funding earlier this year, after using up $113 billion in congressionally approved aid packages. Disruptions in support from Washington, by far Kiev’s biggest benefactor, led to ammunition shortages that were blamed for battlefield setbacks in recent months. Other NATO members and the EU responded by boosting their aid commitments, such as a €500 million ($533 million) package given by Germany last month.

UK defense chief Grant Shapps hailed the fact that London was the first ally to give Ukraine long-range missiles and “modern” tanks.

“Now, we are going even further,” he said in the statement.

“We will never let the world forget the existential battle Ukraine is fighting, and with our enduring support, they will win.”

He added that the latest round of aid will give Ukraine what it needs to push back Russian forces and “restore peace and stability in Europe”.

Ukrainian leaders are reportedly less sanguine about the potential impact of additional Western weaponry. The $61 billion US aid bill – nearly 100 times the scale of the UK’s latest gift – is unlikely to “dramatically alter Kiev’s situation on the frontline”, the Financial Times reported on Monday, citing unidentified Ukrainian officials and military analysts.

The US House of Representatives approved a $61 billion security package for Kiev on Saturday, following months of congressional squabbling over Republican demands for the White House to boost security on the Mexican border. The bill still needs to be approved by the Democratic-majority Senate and signed by US President Joe Biden.

Although the new package has prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to claim that his country could still defeat Russia, many officials in Kiev are less enthusiastic, arguing it “is unlikely to dramatically alter Kiev’s situation on the frontline”, according to the FT.

Several Ukrainian frontline troops told the newspaper that they are barely holding on under relentless Russian attacks, while suffering from acute ammunition shortages. Some soldiers said they hoped an influx of US-made equipment would improve their situation, although one senior Ukrainian official told the daily that it “will help to slow down the Russian advance, but not stop it”.

Another Ukrainian source echoed that assessment, noting that while the assistance would reduce the ammo deficit, it “does not contain a silver bullet”.

One Ukrainian military analyst remarked that the $61 billion assistance could be the last of its kind this year, adding that “there is a fairly high probability that all subsequent aid packages for Ukraine will be much smaller in size”.

An ammunition deficit is not the only problem facing Ukraine. Rob Lee, a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Eurasia Program, pointed out that manpower is another major challenge for Kiev. The issue of recruiting more troops to the front line “may be the key to how the war unfolds in 2025”, he assessed.

In February, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu estimated Ukraine’s losses since the start of the conflict at more than 444,000 troops. Earlier this month, he said Kiev had lost more than 80,000 soldiers this year alone.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian authorities have embarked on a flurry of legislative activity to replenish battlefield losses. Zelensky has signed two bills in April, one of which lowers the age of conscription for men from 27 to 25, while the other significantly tightens mobilization rules.