Russia celebrates WWII Victory Day: Live updates

9 May, 2024 05:14 / Updated 7 months ago
The day marking the triumph over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War is one of Russia’s most revered holidays

Thousands of troops and dozens of military vehicles paraded across Moscow’s iconic Red Square on May 9 to celebrate the 79th anniversary of victory against the Nazi German invaders and their collaborators.

Military parades and other ceremonial events paying tribute to the valor and sacrifice of the Soviet people have taken place in over 300 cities across Russia, with the centerpiece event kicking off in Moscow at 10am local time.

For over a decade now, Victory Day has also included a massive civilian march known as the Immortal Regiment, in which people carry portraits of their relatives who fought the Nazis. This year, however, the ceremony was canceled due to security concerns.

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09 May 2024

Putin, along with several foreign leaders, including those from former Soviet republics, laid flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Alexander Garden, not far from Red Square.

As the armored columns left Red Square, nine Russian warplanes flew over Moscow in a carefully choreographed, tight formation. They were followed by six more planes, painting the sky in the colors of the Russian flag.

Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles, which are part of Russia’s nuclear deterrence shield, also took part in the parade.

After the columns of troops marched across Red Square, a WWII-era T-34-85 followed, becoming the first armored vehicle to appear during the parade.

Columns of Russian troops have started their march as it begins to snow lightly on Red Square.

Putin has announced a minute of silence to commemorate those who died in the Great Patriotic War against Nazi Germany, as well as those killed in the Ukraine conflict.

The West wants to forget the lessons of history, while Russia remembers that the “fate of humanity” was ultimately decided in fierce battles between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Putin said, recalling that for the first three years of the war, Moscow stood largely alone in the face of the relentless German onslaught.

At the same time, “Russia has never downplayed the significance” of the Allied assistance in WWII and their separate fight against the Nazis, he added.

Western elites have embraced a sentiment of “revenge-seeking,” while attempting to exonerate neo-Nazis in order to fuel regional conflicts and inter-ethnic hostilities, as well as deterring “independent centers of international development,” Putin said. “We reject claims of any state or alliance to exceptionalism,” he added.

According to the president, while Russia will do its best to prevent a global conflict, “it will not allow anyone to threaten us.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has started his speech, greeting the troops on Victory Day. He stated that the truth about World War II is being distorted – in a thinly veiled rebuke of the West, he said the truth “stands in the way of those who are accustomed to building their de-facto colonial policies on hypocrisy and lies.”

Some nations, he added, are bringing down monuments to the “true fighters against Nazism,” while exalting Nazi collaborators.

Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and the commander-in-chief of the Russian Ground Forces Oleg Salyukov saluted the troops and congratulated them on Victory Day.

The Victory Day parade has begun, and the first troops to march onto Red Square were members of the elite Kremlin Regiment. The soldiers carried the Russian flag and a copy of the Victory Banner that was hoisted over the Reichstag building in Berlin.

An unusual spell of cold weather will not derail the Victory Day parade this year, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. “For our military, the weather has never been an obstacle. And those who are in the stands will be given blankets, people will dress warmly.”

On the eve of the parade, Moscow Region was hit by rare snowfall in May, with temperatures dropping below 0C.

Russian armored columns have lined up near Red Square as they await the signal to take part in the Victory Day parade.

Russia has not invited officials and ambassadors from ‘unfriendly countries’ to take part in the Victory Day parade amid tensions with the West over the Ukraine conflict, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

”The regimes of these countries ... are pursuing an aggressive policy against our country. They phrase it in terms of inflicting a strategic defeat on us,” she explained.

She signaled, however, that this approach does not apply to veterans’ organizations from unfriendly states. “Those who preserve the truth about those days [WWII], those who are not committed to rewriting history, are... people we always want to see and always welcome with open arms.”

In the far north, military personnel of the Northern Clover air base, the Russian Arctic post on Kotelny Island, marched across the airfield, followed by a procession of the base’s military equipment, including Bastion missile defense systems not on active duty. The parade included Northern Fleet and airfield technical support units.

In the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok, 1,600 military personnel took part in the parade. The traditional march was followed by a motorcade showcasing Russian Bastion coastal defense missile systems.

Around 2,600 people took part in the parade in the center of Khabarovsk – from service members and cadets to members of law enforcement agencies. The city traditionally organizes the largest Victory Day parade in the Russian Far East.

Over 9,000 troops will march through Red Square in columns representing all branches of Russia’s Armed Forces, including airborne troops, military police, national guardsmen, cadets, and veterans of the ongoing military operation in Ukraine.

The column of armored vehicles rolling through the Russian capital will include 75 various pieces – from the iconic T-34-85 tank, which was one of the main workhorses of the Red Army during WWII, to modern hardware that has been battle-tested over the past two years against the Western-armed Ukrainian forces.

The traditional flyby is expected to include dozens of military aircraft – but may still be canceled at the last minute due to weather.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will open the annual Victory Day parade with an address at 10am local time. Several leaders of countries that were once part of the Soviet Union were invited to the event, including the leaders of Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan. The presidents of Cuba, Laos, and Guinea-Bissau are also reportedly expected to join Putin on Red Square.