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Most of UA forces are pinned down without outside support. Lengthy firefights, of sporadic light arms contact, are common. Think guys moving from street to street with machine guns.

Your presumption is that UA forces would lay down heavy fire for 20 minutes and call in airstrikes. I think that view is ignorant of UA's ability. Most planes are downed or in disrepair, they don't have the kind of control over the air as the US does in Afghanistan or had in Iraq.

There is no airstrike or artillery support to be expected. So you fight on, with small arms, sporadic fighting, for hours on end. And yes, in those hours, maybe only a clip or two are exchanged, because it's in and out, off and on. You don't have to expect an entire contingent of ammo to be expelled in that time.

I can't find the specific report mentioned but it reflects the livejournal reports I've seen in the past on the Ukraine side. Lots of fighters with small arms for the most part busting their asses to crack the invading forces. In a twist of perhaps a bit of irony, Ukraine's forces are employing guerrilla tactics more so than the "rebels" / Russian invaders. This will be the rebels' downfall in the end. One sniper in particular has credited himself with hundreds of kills. If true, that'd really hurt the invaders' efforts.