Russian President Vladimir Putin abruptly disappeared mid-speech throughout a Russian state tv broadcast of an occasion to mark the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea on Friday.

Putin was delivering a speech at Moscow's packed Luzhniki stadium to an viewers of 1000's, the place he started hailing what he described as Russia's "particular army operation" in Ukraine, earlier than the digital camera lower to a crowd waving Russian flags and a live performance efficiency.

No rationalization was given for reducing away from Putin's speech.

"On our land, united by a standard future," Putin mentioned, quoting the Russian structure.

Putin pushed the Kremlin's unsubstantiated claims that Ukrainians are committing "genocide" towards ethnic Russians, and mentioned "it has been lengthy since we noticed such a unity in our individuals."

Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, saying that his offensive goals to "denazify" and demilitarize the nation. Ukrainian and Western officers argue this a false pretext to justify the incursion.

"The aim of this operation is to guard individuals who for eight years now have been dealing with humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime," he mentioned in televised remarks final month. "To this finish, we'll search to demilitarize and denazify Ukraine, in addition to deliver to trial those that perpetrated quite a few bloody crimes towards civilians, together with towards residents of the Russian Federation."

Observe our stay weblog for updates on the Russia-Ukraine battle.

Vladimir Putin state TV
Russian President Vladimir Putin abruptly disappeared mid-speech throughout a Russian state tv broadcast.Screengrab//Russia-24