This comes after weeks of reports of a 'stalemated' battlefield along eastern and southern lines, and amid Western leaders increasingly acknowledging "uncomfortably low" and depleted weapons stockpiles.

Army brigadier general Mark T. Kimmitt, who had served as Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs under the George W. Bush administration, warned in a Wall Street Journal op-ed days ago that the current policy of ramping up weapons systems to Kyiv is only likely to lead to more casualties.

He wrote in the Thursday article that "older and less advanced" systems which are increasingly making up the bulk of what's now being supplied "may indicate that battlefield consumption rates have outpaced production to a point where excess inventories provided to Ukraine are nearly exhausted."