Russian Crowd Cheers Putin's Defense of War

Vladimir Putin appeared at a huge flag-waving rally at a Moscow stadium Friday and lavished praise on his troops fighting in Ukraine, three weeks into the invasion that has led to heavier-than-expected Russian losses on the battlefield and increasingly authoritarian rule at home. "Shoulder to shoulder, they help and support each other," the Russian president said of the Russian forces. Putin's public appearances have been rare since the start of the war, the AP reports, and his remarks Wednesday caused widespread concern. "We have not had unity like this for a long time," he added in his 5-minute address Friday. Video feeds showed a loudly cheering crowd that broke into chants of “Russia!”

Rallies and concerts are being held to mark the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea, which was seized from Ukraine. Moscow police said more than 200,000 people were in and around the Luzhniki stadium. The event included patriotic songs, including "Made in the USSR," with the opening lines “Ukraine and Crimea, Belarus and Moldova, it's all my country." Putin paraphrased the Bible to say of Russia's troops: "There is no greater love than giving up one's soul for one's friends." Taking to the stage where a sign read, "For a world without Nazism," he railed against his foes in Ukraine as "neo-Nazis" and again insisted his actions were necessary to prevent genocide—a claim flatly denied by leaders around the globe.

Elsewhere, President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke for nearly two hours in a bid by the US to deter Beijing from providing military or economic assistance to Russia's invasion. China released a statement afterward that indicated no change in its position, per the Washington Post. And the leader of Russia's delegation in diplomatic talks with Ukraine said the sides have narrowed their differences. The Ukrainian side gave no immediate account of the talks. Vladimir Medinsky, Russia's chief negotiator, said in remarks carried by Russian media that the dispute over Ukraine someday joining NATO "is the issue where the parties have made their positions maximally close." On demilitarizing Ukraine, he said, the two sides are "halfway." (More Russia-Ukraine war stories.)