Russian President Vladimir Putin's pro-war speech at a packed football stadium on Friday, 18 March, was abruptly cut off on state television by what Kremlin claims to have been a technical problem with the server.
Addressing thousands of people during a celebration of the eighth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Putin promised Russians that "all of Kremlin's aims (in Ukraine) would be achieved".
“We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans,” Putin said, according to Al Jazeera.
An earlier pre-recorded footage of patriotic songs was showed after Putin's speech was cut off mid-sentence. However, he later appeared back on state television and his entire speech was telecast later during the day.
Before the glitch, Putin was saying, "It so happened that the beginning of the operation coincided by chance with the birthday of one of our outstanding military...," according to news agency AFP.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told RIA news agency that that speech was cut due to a server glitch.
Prior to Putin's speech, the stadium erupted with Russia’s stirring national anthem, with the words “Russia is our sacred state” and the song “Made in the USSR”, Reuters reported.
Meanwhile, Moscow's war on Kyiv entered the 24th day on Saturday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again urged "meaningful negotiations on peace" with Russia.
In his address posted early Saturday on Facebook, the President said: "Meaningful negotiations on peace, on security for us, for Ukraine - are the only chance for Russia to reduce the damage from its own mistakes."
"It's time to meet. Time to talk. It is time to restore territorial integrity and justice for Ukraine. Otherwise, Russia's losses will be so huge that several generations will not be enough to rebound," Zelenskyy added.
(With inputs from Al Jazeera, Reuters and IANS.)
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