Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged his Western partners to deliver more weapons and ammunition to Kyiv, with the remarks coming on the heels of his decision to pull his outgunned and outmanned forces out of the embattled eastern city of Avdiyivka in the face of the latest Russian onslaught there.
"It’s important for us to save the lives of our people, that’s our main objective. We’re saving the lives of our soldiers," Zelenskiy said at the Munich Security Conference on February 17.
"Russia has not seized anything [following the Ukrainian withdrawal]. They just destroy," Zelenskiy said, adding that Ukrainian defenders were outmanned 7-1 by the Russian invaders in Avdiyivka.
Russia's Defense Ministry late on February 17 claimed that its forces had taken "full control" of Avdiyivka, saying it had been "a powerful defensive hub of the Ukrainian armed forces."
In a news conference with Zelenskiy, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated Washington's vow to back Kyiv in its battle against the Russian invasion for "as long as it takes" and said the U.S. government would push for Moscow to pay damages to Ukraine following the end of the war.
"We will continue in our efforts to secure a just and lasting peace," she said. "We will work to make sure Russia pays damages to Ukraine."
Earlier on February 17, Ukraine's commander in chief , Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskiy, announced his forces were withdrawing from Avdiyivka after four months of a brutal battle with Russian soldiers.
"Ukrainians have proven that we can force Russia to retreat," Zelenskiy said, adding that "our actions are limited only by the sufficiency and length of the range of our strength.... The Avdiyivka situation proves this."
Ukraine, which is heavily dependent on economic and military aid from its Western allies and especially from the United States, has been facing an increasingly acute shortage of ammunition and military equipment as U.S. Republican lawmakers squabble over a $61 billion military and economic aid package for Kyiv.
In a phone call with Zelenskiy, President Joe Biden reassured his Ukrainian counterpart of U.S. backing while saying that U.S. congressional “inaction” had contributed to Ukraine's battlefield setback.
"This morning, Ukraine's military was forced to withdraw from Avdiyivka after Ukrainian soldiers had to ration ammunition due to dwindling supplies as a result of congressional inaction, resulting in Russia's first notable gains in months," the White House said in a statement.
"President Biden emphasized the need for Congress to urgently pass the national security supplemental funding bill to resupply Ukrainian forces [and] reaffirmed the strong bipartisan support in the U.S. government and among the American people for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to imposing costs on the Russian government to hold it accountable for its actions," it added.
Zelenskiy, who is redoubling efforts to garner more military, political, and economic support for Ukraine to stave off Russia's unprovoked invasion that is nearing the two-year mark, again urged Ukraine's Western allies to speed up heavy weapons and ammunition deliveries.
"Keeping Ukraine in artificial deficits of weapons, particularly in deficits of artillery and long-range capabilities, allows Putin to adapt to the current intensity of the war," he said.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Ukraine Live Briefing gives you the latest developments on Russia's invasion, Western military aid, the plight of civilians, and territorial control maps. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
In response to a question from the media on whether it would be good for Zelenskiy to invite former U.S. President Donald Trump to visit Ukraine, "If Mr. Trump, if he will come, I am ready even to go with him to the front line," he said. "I invite him publicly, but it depends on his wishes, of course. We are ready."
Trump, who is the current front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, has repeatedly expressed scepticism about further U.S. support for Ukraine.
Speaking separately at the Munich forum, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the U.S. delay in unlocking the aid for Ukraine has a direct impact on the front line situation.
"Every week we wait means that there will be more people killed on the front line in Ukraine," he said.
Prior to her meeting with Zelenskiy, the U.S. vice president, a Democrat, on February 16 warned that failure by the Republican-led House to authorize further aid for Ukraine would amount to a "gift" to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Addressing the Munich forum, Harris told Ukraine's European allies, "You have made clear that Europe will stand with Ukraine and I will make clear, President Joe Biden and I stand with Ukraine."
Harris later said Biden's administration stood ready to support Ukraine for "as long as it takes" and would push for Russia to pay damages to Ukraine following the end of the war.
"We will continue in our efforts to secure a just and lasting peace. We will work to make sure Russia pays damages to Ukraine," she said at a joint news conference with Zelenskiy on February 17.
Zelenskiy traveled to Munich a day after he signed key security agreements with France and Germany.
The Ukrainian leader said the agreements signed with Germany and France would give "an impulse to the United States" to approve the critical $61 billion aid package.
But German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, when asked earlier on February 17 in Munich whether his government would supply long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, sidestepped the question, saying only that German decisions would be made at the right time.
Speaking on the margins of the Munich Security Conference on February 17, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized fellow supporters of Ukraine for being too slow and hesitant to supply the embattled country with the weapons it needs.
The international community made costly mistakes in responding to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Frederiksen said, and too little is still being done to deliver the weapons that Ukraine needs.
Frederiksen urged other European countries to send weapons and ammunition from existing stocks to Ukraine while also investing more in building up Europe's capacity to produce weapons.
Also in Munich, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Ukraine would eventually become a member of the European Union and also of NATO, but it can't join the Western military alliance while it remains in a military conflict with Russia.
"The message to Russia is very clear: Ukraine will be a member of the European Union, and then we are working to have Ukraine as a member of NATO," Tajani said.
But he insisted that NATO membership wasn't possible while Ukraine is in a war with Russia. "We need to be very prudent," as having a NATO member that is at war with Russia would mean "World War III."
Outside the meeting halls, supporters of Ukraine rallied in Munich's Odeonplatz to call for an end to the Russian invasion, with Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko attending.
Other rallies also took place, including a demonstration calling for Western leaders to speak out against the fundamentalist Islamic government of Iran, which has been accused of human rights violations, most recenty with brutal crackdowns on antigovernment protests.