Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping stand side by side in Moscow Red Square while Russia marks the victory of the Second World War

Vladimir Putin was held alongside Xi Jinping while Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory against Nazi Germany during the Second World War on Friday.

The military parade in the Red Place of Moscow took place without any report of Ukrainian attacks despite the three -year war between Russia and Ukraine.

Mr. Putin, the oldest Russian president from Josef Stalin, was held next to his Chinese counterpart several dozen other leaders, and the Russian veterans on a covered platform next to the Lenin mausoleum while the troops passed.

Putin said Russia would never accept attempted discounts on the decisive role of the Soviet Union by beating Nazi Germany, but that Moscow also recognized the role played by the Western allies by defeating Adolf Hitler.

“The Soviet Union took the most ferocious and ruthless blows of the enemy,” said Putin.

“We strongly appreciate the contribution of soldiers of the Allied armies, members of the Resistance, the courageous people of China and all those who fought for a peaceful future in our common struggle.”

Mr. Putin only made any criticism of the West and only referred only to the war of Ukraine, the deadliest in Europe since the Second World War, but that haunted the celebration.

More than 11,500 soldiers were aligned in ranks on the Red Square, including 1,500 who fought in Ukraine.

The largest technological innovation in war was paraded for the first time, as well as intercontinental Yars and missiles capable of transporting nuclear warheads.

Ukraine attacked Moscow with drones for several days this week, although there was no major attack on Moscow Friday in the middle of a 72-hour ceasefire declared by Mr. Putin.

The Soviet Union lost 27 million people during the Second World War, including several million in Ukraine, but pushed the Nazi forces in Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the banner of red Soviet victory was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.

Historians of the Chinese Communist Party say that the victims of China in the second Sino-Japanese war of 1937-1945 were 35 million. The Japanese occupation caused the displacement of 100 million Chinese and significant economic difficulties, as well as the Nanjing massacre of 1937, during which around 100,000 to 300,000 victims were killed.

Moscow and kyiv do not publish figures from specific victims for the war in Ukraine, although US President Donald Trump, who says he wants peace, says hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides were killed and injured.

Moscow parade

The unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany came into force at 11:01 p.m. On May 8, 1945, marked as “victory in Europe” by Great Britain, the United States and France.

In Moscow, it was already May 9, which became the “victory day” of the Soviet Union in what the Russians called the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.

For the Russians and for many peoples of the former Soviet Union on May 9 is the most sacred date on the calendar, and Putin sought to use memories of the Second World War to unite Russian society, in particular in the midst of the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin claims that the attendance of the Russian allies such as Xi, the Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva and several dozen leaders of the former Soviet Union, Africa, Asia and Latin America show that Russia is not isolated even if the former Western allies of Moscow want to stay away.

Chinese troops participated in the parade and Mr. Putin shook the North Korean officers, praising them for their combat competence.

North Korean troops helped Russia fight against an incursion in its western region of Kursk by Ukrainian forces looking for a negotiation program in all peace talks.

Trump called on an unconditional 30-day ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine on Thursday, and said that if the truce was not respected, “the United States and its partners would impose other sanctions”.

Mr. Putin proposed a 72-hour ceasefire which would take place on May 8, 9 and May 10, although Ukraine declared that Russia had broken the ceasefire, a complaint rejected as absurd by Moscow.

In kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called on allies to help him resist Russia, who now controls a fifth in Ukraine.

“Evil cannot be appeased. It must be fought,” he said, according to the Kyiv Post.

He criticized the Moscow victory day parade: “It will be a parade of cynicism. There is simply no other way to describe it. A parade of bile and lies.”

Reuters