Vladimir Putin has done everything he can to project a sense of success through his devastating decision to attack Ukraine.
It has not been a good experience with many issues, including thousands of troops being killed and high-ranking officers being taken out of the force by the resistance. They also got bogged down and have not been able to take Kyiv yet. As mentioned earlier, if the Defense Ministry must fabricate a lie to post a “win”, you know that it isn't working.
In fact, it was declared Saturday that another Russian general was killed in fighting. According to the Ukrainians Lieutenant-General Andrey Mordvichev, it was the commander of the 8th Army of the southern military districts. He was killed after they took down a Russian command center at an airfield near Kherson. However, Russia is trying to subdue some cities by bombing and blocking them.
Putin wanted a photo-op and he got one. He packed Moscow's Luzhniki Stadium on Friday with thousands of people cheering for the war, wearing “Z”, a symbol of his war effort, and taking a lot of photos.
Putin wanted to show that people supported him and also commemorate the eighth anniversary of the annexed Crimea. This scenario was not perfect and it created a lot of Nuremberg vibes.
First, it is a great example of cognitive dissonance to quote the Bible while killing civilians.
Beyond that, the speech was interrupted by a band playing for a few seconds and people were left wondering what was happening. The video abruptly cuts to a band for a few seconds right in the middle of Putin's speech. After that, it returned to Putin.
It's not clear why. This led to conspiracy theories about whether he was absent and the recording was prerecorded or that the resistance caused it. According to the Kremlin, there was a “glitch.” That's just one way to put it.
The picture was not just a problem. Some present at the event spoke to the BBC. Many of the attendees were employees in public service, who claimed they were forced to go by their bosses. Others claimed they were forced to go. Some students were told they could get the day off if the ‘concert' was attended, but didn't know what it was.
Many people didn't stay and booked it out after only half an hour.
It was a mixed bag. There were certainly some genuine supporters, but it wasn't the picture Putin wanted to show the world.
