The celebration took place in the presence of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, who was accompanied by a multitude of foreign leaders, including Chinese president Xi Jinping and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
The day of victory, celebrated in Russia on May 9, is the most important secular feast in the country.
The parade on the Red Square and the other ceremonies underline the efforts of Moscow to assert its world power and consolidate the alliances it has forged, while seeking to counterbalance the West in the context of the conflict in Ukraine which has been getting bogged down for four years.
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The Second World War is a rare event in the conflict history of the nation under the communist regime, venerated by all political groups. The Kremlin used this feeling to encourage national pride and demonstrate the position of Russia as a world power.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in what it called the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, a enormous sacrifice which left a deep scar in the national psyche.
This year’s festivities were overshadowed by Ukrainian drone attacks targeting Moscow and serious disruptions in the capital’s airports.
-On Wednesday morning, Russian airline Aeroflot canceled more than 100 flights to their destination and from Moscow and delayed more than 140 others, while the army pushed repeated attacks from Ukrainian drones.
The Russian authorities have strengthened security before the parade and internet cuts on cellulars were reported in the context of electronic countermeasures aimed at thwarting other potential drone attacks.
Speaking during the parade, President Putin praised the Russian troops fighting in Ukraine, saying that she was proud of “their courage and their determination, their spiritual strength which has always brought us victory”.
The Russian leader said a unilateral 72-hour unilateral ceasefire to coincide with victory day celebrations, but warned that Russian troops would retaliate.
Moscow was reluctant to accept the 30-day truce proposed by the United States and accepted by Ukraine, linking it to the cessation of Western arms deliveries to Ukraine and the mobilization of Kyiv, conditions that Ukraine and its Western allies have rejected.
Ukrainian authorities reported dozens of Russian strikes on Friday that killed at least two people in the Kherson and Zaporijia regions.
While the parade on the Red Square and other festivities took place in Moscow, dozens of European officials met in Lviv, in the west of Ukraine, to approve the creation of a special court responsible for judging the Russian officials accused of war crimes.
