New Delhi, July 4 -- a "security zone" in Russian border regions adjacent to Ukraine that he said has been significantly expanded in recent months. In the same breath, he described those border areas as historically Russian land - a phrase that has served as the precursor to each of Russia's formal territorial moves since 2014.

Putin made the statement during a visit to a Joint Group of Forces command post, where Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov briefed him on the current situation in the special military operation zone. Putin specifically noted the role of the North group of forces in expanding the security zone and said that creating such a zone in territory bordering Ukraine was justified because those areas constituted, in...