MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Russian troops had captured 270 square km of Ukraine’s Donetsk region in August and a large group of Ukrainian troops were surrounded.
Reuters could not independently verify his statement.
Russia continues to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, Putin said, adding that Moscow's forces were preparing to launch massive strikes against energy infrastructure in Ukraine.
(Reporting by Maxim Rodionov in London, Dmitry Antonov and Ksenia Orlova in Moscow; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
