Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Tuesday that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect bordering Russian territory and asserted that Ukrainian forces had suffered "catastrophic" losses in a new counteroffensive, per the AP. 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 stages of the counteroffensive . The meeting, which lasted more than two hours, came after Russian missile strikes in central Ukraine killed at least 11 people overnight. Putin said Ukraine's counteroffensive has been unsuccessful. He asserted that Ukraine lost 160 tanks and over 360 other armored vehicles, while Russia lost 54 tanks since the new assault began. Those claims could not be immediately verified. Ukrainian officials typically do not comment on losses. The White House offered no immediate reaction to Putin’s claims.
Speaking with reporters and bloggers—some wearing baseball caps and T-shirts, Putin also said:
- Russia’s defense industry has ratcheted up production of drones and other weapons but needs more and that the West is also struggling to produce more weapons and ammunition.
- Russia might pull out of a UN-backed deal to allow grain shipments from Ukraine through a demilitarized Black Sea maritime corridor.
- The United States could stop the war by halting weapons shipments to Ukraine, leaving it too weak to carry on the fight.
- The West will eventually realize it won’t succeed in Ukraine. "They will never see it happen. Never."
story continues below
While Putin spoke, the State Department announced that the United States would send Ukraine a new military aid package worth up to $325 million, including a range of rockets, missiles and other munitions. Without providing details of the locations or timing, the Russian Defense Ministry said Russian forces used long-range air-launched cruise missiles to hit Ukrainian military reserves and depots holding Western weapons and ammunition. Meanwhile, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was attacked with Iranian-made Shahed drones , and the surrounding region was shelled, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. The shelling wounded two civilians in the town of Shevchenkove, southeast of Kharkiv, and a drone strike damaged two buildings in Kharkiv.
(More
Russia-Ukraine war stories.)
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
