VLAD'S GOING ON?
Moment Putin’s speech is mysteriously cut off during rally in Russia as deluded tyrant hails Ukraine invasion a success
THIS is the moment Vladimir Putin's pro-war speech was mysteriously cut off during a huge rally as the deluded tyrant brazenly hailed the Ukraine invasion a success.
Russian state TV suddenly cut away from the dictator as he was praising his troops in Ukraine and showed pre-recorded footage of patriotic songs instead.
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Putin was cut off mid-sentence as he was saying: "It so happened that the beginning of the operation coincided by chance with the birthday of one of our outstanding military..."
Around 10 minutes later, the Kremlin chief's speech was replayed from the start to finish before he walked off stage as thousands of spectators waved Russian flags at the 80,000-capacity Luzhniki stadium.
Russian state TV is tightly controlled and such interruptions are highly unusual.
The Kremlin claimed a technical glitch was behind the interrupted transmission of Putin's speech to the packed Moscow stadium to mark the eighth anniversary of Crimea's annexation.
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According to RIA news agency, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a server glitch had caused the interruption.
Earlier this month there was speculation he used a green screen to fake a TV appearance after his hand was seen "going through a microphone".
There have been questions swirling around the Kremlin despot's health and whereabouts for the last year, with rumours of state television airing old footage of him to hide a bout of Covid.
Experts believe his increasingly erratic actions in the war could indicate a man on the verge of a physical or mental breakdown.
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The 69-year-old has long prided himself on his tightly controlled "strong man" image, meaning the cutaway might have been engineered to cover up a blip or an embarrassing moment.
And the disturbance comes just days after a brave anti-war activist storming Russia's main propaganda news show, fuelling fears a protester could have prompted the interruption of Putin's speech.
The cutaway sparked a frenzy of speculation on social media.
One Twitter user said: "Maybe someone threw a pie at him and they had to cut mid sentence."
Another wrote: "Perhaps he accidentally said 'war' or 'invasion' and the broadcaster cut it to avoid 15 years in prison."
A third said: "Maybe he said something incorrect or that he doesn't what others to hear."
During the speech, Putin promised the tens of thousands of people waving Russian flags that all the Kremlin's aims would be achieved.
Standing on stage in a white turtleneck and a blue down jacket, Putin spoke for about five minutes on Friday as his brutal troops continued to blast Ukrainian cities with shelling and missiles.
He told the crowd: "We know what we need to do, how to do it and at what cost. And we will absolutely accomplish all of our plans."
The deluded Russian leader continued to insist his evil bombing of Ukraine was necessary to prevent genocide - a claim flatly denied by leaders around the globe.
He said the soldiers fighting in Russia's "special military operation" had highlighted the unity of the country.
"Shoulder to shoulder, they help each other, support each other and when needed they shield each other from bullets with their bodies like brothers. Such unity we have not had for a long time," he said.
The stage where Putin spoke was decked out with slogans "for a world without Nazism" and "for our president", using the "Z" - markings used in the war in Ukraine.
Before Putin spoke, Russia's national anthem boomed out across the stands of the stadium used in the 2018 Soccer World Cup along with more modern pop hits such as "Made in the U.S.S.R.".
Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium for the event.
According to the BBC, many people said they worked in the public sector and they had been pressured into attending by their employers.
"Many seemed embarrassed or ashamed to be there," said.
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Meanwhile, Russian troops continued to pound the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and launched a barrage of missiles on the outskirts of the western city of Lviv.
The early morning attack near Lviv was the closest strike yet to the centre of the city, which has become a crossroads for people fleeing from other parts of Ukraine.
Across Ukraine, hospitals, schools and buildings where people have been sheltering from Russia's onslaught have been attacked.
Rescue workers are still desperately searching for survivors in the ruins of a theatre that was blasted by a Russian airstrike on Wednesday in the besieged city of Mariupol.
Ludmyla Denisova, Ukrainian parliaments human rights commissioner, said at least 130 people had survived the bombing of the shelter at the theatre.
"But according to our data, there are still more than 1,300 people in these basements, in this bomb shelter," Denisova told Ukrainian television.
"We pray that they will all be alive, but so far there is no information about them."
In Lviv, black smoke billowed for hours after the explosions, which hit a facility for repairing military aircraft near the city's international airport.
One person was injured, according to local officials.
Lviv's population has grown by some 200,000 in recent weeks as people from elsewhere in Ukraine have fled there to safety.
Early morning explosions also hit a residential building in the Podil neighbourhood of Kyiv, killing at least one person.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 19 were wounded in the shelling.
Two others were killed when strikes hit the eastern city of Kramatorsk, according to the regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko.
In Kharkiv, a fire raged through a local market after shelling Thursday.
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One firefighter was killed and another was injured when another bomb was dropped as emergency workers fought the blaze.
The World Health Organisation said it has verified 43 attacks on hospitals and health facilities, with 12 people killed and 34 injured.
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