The Victory Day that Russia marks on 9 May is the nation’s most important holiday, celebrated with military parades and fireworks across the country.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in the Second World War, which it calls the Great Patriotic War.

This year’s enormous spectacle in Russia was another patriotic display of military power – but against the backdrop of the Ukraine conflict.

Putin hits out at West’s ‘invasion plan’ – follow latest updates

Soldiers marched and drove tanks, rocket launchers, missiles and other military equipment through Moscow’s Red Square.

The Russian president used Monday’s pomp and ceremony to boost morale – both at home and abroad – and as an attempt to cast his invasion of Ukraine as a necessary response to Western policies.

The Russian leader has repeatedly accused Ukraine of harbouring aggressive intentions with support from the US and its allies – claims Ukrainian and western officials have denied.

Determined to justify a war now in its 11th week, President Vladimir Putin told a military parade in Red Square to mark the Second World War victory over Nazi Germany: “For Russia, For Victory, Hurrah!”

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