Watch: Russia celebrates Victory Day in Red Square as war in Ukraine grinds on
- On May 9, Russia celebrates its 1945 victory over Nazi Germany with a show of military might in Moscow
- Putin has sought to legitimise invasion of Ukraine by comparing it with the previous struggle against Nazism
President Vladimir Putin is leading anniversary celebrations of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany as Russian forces fight Ukrainians in one of the deadliest European conflicts since the end of World War II 77 years ago.
Putin, Russia’s paramount leader since 1999, has in recent years used Victory Day to needle the West from a tribune in Red Square before a parade of troops, tanks, rockets and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Putin has repeatedly likened the war in Ukraine – which he casts as a battle against dangerous Nazi-inspired nationalists in Ukraine – to the challenge the Soviet Union faced when Adolf Hitler invaded in 1941.
But the Russian leader, who attacked Ukraine after its pro-Western leadership moved toward closer ties with Nato, has so far failed to make significant progress in the war as the US and Europe ratchet up arms supplies to Kyiv’s military.
There was speculation that Putin could order a general or partial mobilisation of soldiers, even though the Kremlin has already rejected this as “nonsense”.
In April, Russia abandoned efforts to seize Kyiv and oust Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and switched its focus to the southeast of Ukraine. But there too, its offensive has stalled, failing until now to seize all territory claimed by Kremlin-backed separatists in the eastern Donbas or complete a takeover of the southern coast.