President Vladimir Putin gave a much-anticipated speech before thousands of Russians gathered at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
The event, a pro-war patriotic rally commemorating the Russian state “Defenders’s Day,” as well as the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, took place under the motto “Glory to the defenders of our Fatherland!”
As Putin stepped into view, the crowds chanted “Putin! Putin!” and “Russia! Russia!” before the president spoke. “Here we are together,” he said, “at this celebratory event”:
But I just heard from the country’s supreme military leadership, about the combat that’s taking place this very moment, on our historic frontiers, and for the sake of our people.
Putin said that the Russian troops are fighting “heroically, courageously, and bravely,” and that “the whole country” supports them, because every Russian is “to a certain extent a defender of one’s fatherland.”
Putin’s 3.5-minute speech was followed by the state anthem.
