Putin says he might try to seize nearby territory in Ukraine to prevent cross-border strikes
Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect Russian territory on the border KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Tuesday that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect border ing Russian territory and asserted that Ukrainian forces had suffered “catastrophic” losses in a new counteroffensive. In some of his most detailed remarks about the war in months, the Russian leader also said he was not contemplating a new troop mobilization, as many Russians have feared, but did not rule it out. And he reiterated Russia’s claim that Ukraine was responsible for blowing up a Dnieper River dam that caused vast flooding on both sides of the front line last week in the country's south. Putin's comments at an open meeting with military journalists and bloggers followed Kyiv's claims that Ukrainian troops had captured a handful of villages in the early stag