Putin says Russia is planning a buffer zone to protect against Ukrainian cross-border attacks

By The Associated Press

Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country won’t relent in its invasion of Ukraine, with one of its goals being to establish a buffer zone along the border to protect against long-range Ukrainian strikes and cross-border raids. The Kremlin’s forces have recently made battlefield progress as Kyiv’s troops struggle with a severe shortage of artillery shells and exhausted front-line units after more than two years of war. The front line stretches over 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) of eastern and southern Ukraine. But the advances have been slow and costly, while Ukraine has increasingly used its long-range firepower to hit oil refineries and depots deep inside Russia. Also, groups claiming to be Ukraine-based Russian opponents of the Kremlin have launched cross-border incursions.