In front of a packed stadium, Putin congratulates Russian soldiers and speaks proudly of the conflict against Ukraine

The Russian President, Vladimir Putinmade a statement this Friday, 18, about the war in Ukraine which has already lasted 23 days. In front of a stadium packed with supporters who were constantly raising Russian flags and chanting the country’s name, Putin said “we have never had such strength” as now and congratulated Russian soldiers who are fighting in the war against Ukraine. “We see the heroic action of our military in this operation. Our soldiers are trying to help each other,” he said. Putin also spoke proudly of the conflict with the Eastern European country and stressed that “the main reason for the ‘special operation’ was to defend itself from aerial bombs and the genocide that was taking place,” Putin said of the war in Ukraine. The event was a celebration of the eighth year of the annexation of Crimea. The disappearance of the Russian president after his speech drew the attention of those who followed the broadcast, as, without any explanation, the testimony was cut by the public television network Rossiya-24, which began to show other moments of the same event, official speeches and popular songs. . Fifteen minutes later, the station resumed broadcasting the Russian president’s intervention with “delay”.