Putin hints of new effort to gain territory in Ukraine after cross-border strikes

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested Tuesday that he could order his troops to try to seize more land in Ukraine to protect Russian territory on the border 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 mobilization, but he 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 southern Ukraine.

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.

A U.S. official familiar with American intelligence said Putin's comments were "not accurate" and cautioned about putting any stock in Russia's public assessments. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer an internal assessment, did not offer any further detail on how Putin's claims were misleading.

Referring to alleged Ukrainian incursions into Russia and shelling of Russia's Belgorod and other border regions, Putin said he was considering whether "to create on Ukrainian territory a kind of sanitary zone at such a distance from which it would be impossible to get our territory."

It was not clear whether Russia could afford to risk expanding its gains in Ukraine as it faces the evolving counteroffensive in several sectors of the more than 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) front line.

In recent weeks, Russia's border areas have come under increasing attack, with the Kremlin blaming Ukrainian forces for incursions of fighters and drone strikes. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed Kyiv's involvement in the attacks but have obliquely welcomed them.

Local leaders in Russia have pleaded with the Kremlin to do more to protect residents, some of whom have been evacuated to safer areas.

Putin acknowledged that Russian authorities should have foreseen such attacks and been prepared better to repel them. Last fall, Russian troops withdrew from broad swaths of territory they controlled in the Kharkiv region bordering Russia under the brunt of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Also Tuesday, Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Hanna Maliar, told Ukrainian TV that the country's forces are continuing the offensive in four areas in the south and east.

The head of Ukraine's ground troops said forces were "moving forward" outside Bakhmut, in Ukraine's east. Oleksandr Syrskyi wrote on Telegram that Russian forces are "losing positions on the flanks."

For weeks, Ukrainian officials have been reporting small gains west of Bakhmut, which was largely destroyed in the war's longest and bloodiest battle before Russia took control last month.

The advances have amounted to only small bits of territory, and they underscore the difficulty of the battle ahead for Ukrainian forces, who will have to fight meter by meter to regain the roughly one-fifth of their country under Russian occupation.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian authorities said at least 11 people were killed and 34 wounded overnight in a Russian missile strike on the city of Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's hometown.

Russian forces have repeatedly unleashed overnight missile strikes against targets across Ukraine in recent weeks, and Tuesday's toll was among the highest from a single attack. In late April, missile strikes hit an apartment building in the central city of Uman, killing 23 people, including six children.

Images from the latest missile attack relayed by Zelenskyy on his Telegram channel showed firefighters battling a blaze as flames poked through broken windows in a damaged apartment building. Charred and damaged vehicles littered the ground.

"More terrorist missiles," he wrote. "Russian killers continue their war against residential buildings, ordinary cities and people."

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.

The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, wrote on Telegram that the bodies of seven people were recovered from a private company's warehouse, and "another four destinies were cut short" at the apartment building. He said search operations had been called off.

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.

The Kyiv military administration reported that the capital came under fire as well on Tuesday, but the incoming missiles were destroyed by air defenses and there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Also Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry published a video showing what it said was a German-made Leopard 2 tank and U.S.-made Bradley fighting vehicle captured from Ukrainian forces.

According to the ministry, the video was shot by Russian soldiers after fierce fighting in Zaporizhzhia. It was not immediately possible to verify the video's authenticity.

[--][--][--]

Associated Press Writer Aamer Madhani in Washington contributed to this report.

[--][--][--]

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine