Putin finally confirms he got the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, as Russia struggles to vaccinate people amid spiking cases and deaths

• Vladimir Putin confirmed on a Wednesday TV show that got Russia's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine.
• His remarks come as Russia struggles to vaccinate its people amid a COVID-19 surge.
• In March, the Kremlin said Putin was vaccinated, but wouldn't say which shot he was given.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said he was vaccinated with his country's Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine, after previously not saying which vaccine he had been given.

Putin shared the news while speaking on a TV show in Russia on Wednesday.

Watch him speak in this dubbed video by the state-run RT network:

-RT (@RT_com) June 30, 2021

The official Twitter account for the Sputnik V vaccine also said on Wednesday that Putin got that vaccine:

-Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) June 30, 2021

The Kremlin said in March that Putin was vaccinated, but did not say what shot he got.

Putin's Wednesday remarks come as Russia struggles to vaccinate people amid a massive spike in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

Russia has given some 15% of its population at least one dose of a vaccine, compared to 23.4% of the world's population, according to Our World in Data. To compare, 54.2% of the US population has received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, while 46.4% are fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this week 18 Russian regions, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, made vaccines mandatory for employees working in certain areas, including retail, government jobs, and education, in a bid to increase the vaccination rate.

The country is also battling the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant: The Moscow Times reported that the variant accounts for 90% of new cases in Moscow.