Putin says Russia will prevail in Ukraine in speech to thousands of cheering supporters in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed what Russia calls its special operation in Ukraine during a rally in a packed stadium on Friday in Moscow, promising the tens of thousands of people in attendance that all the Kremlin's goals would be achieved.

The stage where Putin spoke had slogans "For a world without Nazism" and "For our president", using the "Z" - markings used as markings on Russian military hardware deployed in Ukraine.

Ukraine says it is fighting for its existence and that Putin's claims of genocide are nonsense. The West says claims it wants to rip Russia apart are fiction.

As Putin was talking, state television briefly cut away from his speech and showed earlier pre-recorded footage of patriotic songs. Russia's RIA news agency cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying a technical fault on a server was the reason.