Putin “shares pain” of Russian soldiers’ mothers

STORY: In what appeared to be an attempt to counter online reporting about Russian forces' problems in the war, Putin urged the mothers to distrust the internet.

But some relatives of soldiers killed in the war said the Kremlin had ignored their pleas for a meeting.

The conflict in Ukraine has killed or wounded tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides, according to the United States, and Russia's sending thousands of troops in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile crisis.