As the 72nd week of the war in Ukraine drew to a close, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy gave a sober assessment of the situation - while his forces had made advances in recent weeks, their momentum was stalling due to the entrenched defences of Russian forces.

However, with the help of NATO allies, Ukraine was soon to break through that obstacle. The United States, in particular, pledged to give Ukraine cluster bombs designed to be used against heavily fortified defensive positions.

This was reinforced by NATO allies at a summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, who announced further weapons pledges, such as Storm Shadow missiles with a 250km (120-mile) range from France and Germany, and 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 25 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks from Germany.

Ukraine’s forces have since made significant gains, with the Ukrainian general staff claiming they have recaptured 162sq km (63sq miles) since their counteroffensive began on June 4th.

However, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) think tank suggest the figure is closer to 253sq km (98sq miles), and Russian forces have only captured 282sq km (109sq miles) since January 1st.

In addition, Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said their forces had captured key heights over Bakhmut, putting their artillery in range of Russian positions in the city itself, leading to a disorderly retreat of Russian units from the town of Klishchiivka.

This, coupled with a reported lack of strategic Russian war reserves and the leniency with which Wagner Group mercenaries have been treated, indicate a weakening of Russian morale.

Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov welcomed the US decision to supply cluster munitions, based on Ukrainian assurances to use them only on occupied Ukrainian soil as well as meticulously record the locations and bomb-sweep them after the war.

All of this is helping Ukraine to break the Russian defences, with no signs of the war ending anytime soon.