The Ukraine Defense Ministry asked for “ammunition, not advice” in a new video Thursday, following recent criticism from U.S. officials over Kyiv’s strategy amid a slow-moving counteroffensive.
“It seems like everyone is now an expert on Ukrainian warfare,” the Defense Ministry wrote in a video posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
“While we appreciate all the attention, we’d like to humbly remind you that if we listened to what non-Ukrainians said in February 2022, we would no longer exist,” it added. “Thanks all the same. But we need ammunition, not advice.”
U.S. officials have argued recently that Ukrainian troops and resources are misallocated, spread thin between fronts in both the east and the south. They have instead urged Kyiv to focus on driving south toward Melitopol, according to The New York Times.
The American push to shift strategies and see substantial results from the latest counteroffensive comes as political support for aid to Ukraine is waning, and the Biden administration is nearing the limit of available Congress-approved funds for the effort.
The White House announced another $250 million security package for Kyiv on Tuesday, bringing total U.S. assistance since the beginning of the war to more than $43 billion.
However, retired Army Gen. Jack Keane suggested in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed that American advice to focus on a drive toward Melitopol amounts to “military malpractice” and urged U.S. officials to concentrate on assisting Ukraine instead.
“The U.S. should be focused on helping Ukraine fight the war the way it wants to fight, not chirping from the sidelines,” Keane wrote.