Putin rallies stadium crowds and lauds troops fighting in Ukraine

He said Russian troops are laying down their lives for each other during battles

Russian President Vladimir Putin at a rally in Moscow to celebrate the eighth anniversary of the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. AP

Russia's President Vladimir Putin quoted a Bible verse while saying Russian soldiers are “giving their souls” for their brothers in arms.

Addressing crowds at a Moscow rally to celebrate the eighth anniversary of his annexation of Crimea, the Russian leader saluted troops for the comradeship they had shown in the war, describing how they “cover each other from the bullets”.

Crowds packed into Luzhniki Stadium for the celebrations, waving the national flag and singing “Forward, Russia”.

He reiterated his accusation that Ukrainian authorities had persecuted Russians and Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine.

A girl prays for peace in Ukraine in front of the replica of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, in the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Lviv, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine. March 18, 2022. Reuters

He said the main purpose of the war was “to save people from this suffering and genocide”. The claim, which he has also made in the past, has been dismissed as absurd by independent analysts.

Mr Putin lauded Russian military personnel “heroically” fighting in Ukraine, and quoted the biblical verse from John 15:13, which reads: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

“I think about the words from the Bible,” he said. “There’s no more love than if somebody gives their soul for his friends.”

“These words [are] from the holy Bible, our Christian Bible, from what is dear to people who profess this religion,” he said.

“The heart of the message is that this is a universal value for all the people and all the confessions of Russia, and first of all for our people the best indication [of] how our guys are fighting during this military operation.

“Shoulder to shoulder they are helping and supporting each other and when it’s necessary they cover as if it was their own brother, they cover each other from the bullets. We haven’t had such unity in a long time.”

Crowds cheered his speech before joining in with a musician singing “Forward, Russia”.

Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the stadium for the rally and concert. The event included well-known singer Oleg Gazmanov singing Made in the USSR, with the opening lines “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, It’s all my country”.

As Mr Putin prepared to take the stage, speakers praised him as fighting Nazism in Ukraine, a claim flatly rejected by leaders around the globe.

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  A woman cries near a building damaged by shelling in Kyiv as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. EPA

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  A satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage from a Russian strike on Lviv's international airport. AP

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  Destroyed cars hit by shelling in Kyiv. EPA

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  A woman stands in her home after her building was damaged by shelling in Kyiv. EPA

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  A pedestrian looks at a cloud of smoke rising after an explosion in Lviv. AP

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  General view of a street behind a barricade in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. EPA

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  The UN Security Council meets on threats to international peace and security in New York. AFP

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  US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with US troops at an army training range in Bulgaria. AP

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  Empty strollers are seen outside the Lviv city council building during an action to highlight the number of children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

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  Children play on the stage of the theatre of the Ukrainian House where a shelter for refugees has been installed in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland. AFP

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  Smoke is seen above buildings close to the airport in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv's mayor said the airport was not hit, but an area nearby. Getty Images

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  Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a warehouse after a bombing in Kyiv. AP Photo

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  President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presents flowers to Kateryna Vlasenko, 16 - who was injured as she fled with her family from the town of Vorzel - at a hospital in Kyiv. Reuters

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  Igor, a 40 year-old Ukranian soldier, embraces his wife in front of his military basement in the centre of Odesa. AFP

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  Ukrainian refugees arrive at the reception centre near Palanca Village, about 3 kilometres from the Moldova-Ukraine border. EPA

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  Broken windows after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defences, hit an apartment block in Kyiv. AP

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  People clear debris outside a medical centre damaged by the same Russian missile after it was intercepted. AP

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  A police officer looks through the window of a damaged flat in Kyiv. One person was killed and three injured when debris from a downed rocket hit an apartment in the Ukrainian capital. AFP

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  Firemen working in the rubble after extensive damage in Kyiv. AFP

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  Family members and comrades of Ivan Skrypny, who was killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Yavoriv, pay their last respects at his memorial service in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters

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  A man feels the despair as his home was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. Russian troops trying to encircle the capital have launched early morning strikes on the city for several successive days. AFP

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  UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a news conference following their talks in Moscow. Reuters

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  The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama, which was destroyed by an air strike during Russia's military onslaught in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters

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  A satellite image of the theatre before the bombing, with the word 'children' written in Russian in large white letters on the pavement in front of and behind the building. Reuters

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  A Ukrainian woman and her family in a taxi displaying the colours of the Ukrainian flag upon arriving in Madrid with a group of Spanish taxi drivers who drove to Poland to support the mass evacuation of refugees. Reuters

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  A sanitised train arrives in Kielce, Poland, carrying children with oncological diseases who fled Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Reuters

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  A man outside a damaged housing block after it was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. AFP

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  A residential building damaged by a blast wave at the scene where debris from a downed rocket hit a nearby apartment block in Kyiv. AFP

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  Evacuees from Mariupol are seen upon arrival at the car park of a shopping centre on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is now a registration centre for displaced people. AFP

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  Legislators applaud Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, after an address via video link at the Bundestag in Berlin. Bloomberg

The annexation of Crimea in 2014 triggered hostilities in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops has claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Mr Putin’s attempt to use religion as a bizarre justification for his invasion of Ukraine came on day 23 of the war.

Western military analysts say the operation is not going as well as Mr Putin had hoped, with morale among troops hitting rock bottom amid reports of logistical challenges.

Fighting is raging in some suburbs of Kyiv but so far the invading troops have been unable to capture the city.