[6][10][12] He also praised the people of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia for the choice they made during the previous year's annexation referendums.

[10][12] Near the end of his speech, Putin announced that Russia would be suspending its participation in the nuclear disarmament treaty New START.

[14][1][12] Putin's address was simultaneously broadcast on television and in schools and government buildings, as well as displayed on large screens in public places in Russia and the occupied territories of Ukraine.

[3] It was delivered a day after U.S. president Joe Biden had made a surprise visit to Kyiv, his first to Ukraine since the start of the invasion.

[25][18][21] Biden also delivered a speech in Warsaw, Poland, hours after Putin had made his presidential address.