Vladimir Putin has led Russia’s Victory Day commemorations with a parade in Red Square and heightened security after days of Ukrainian strikes targeting the capital.

China’s Xi Jinping joined Putin as he told thousands of soldiers and more than 20 international leaders that Russia remembered the lessons of World War Two.

Putin used his speech to tie the war to today’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and said all of Russia was behind what he called the “special military operation” – now well into its fourth year.

For the first time, a column of trucks carrying various combat drones took part in the Victory Day parade, apparently because of their widescale use in Ukraine.

(BBC)

Putin gave his address to thousands of soldiers and dignitaries on Red Square (BBC)

Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro were among the assembled guests, along with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Robert Fico, Slovakia’s prime minister who is the only European Union leader to travel to Moscow.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas had earlier made clear that leaders of EU member states and countries aspiring to join the union should not take part in the event because of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Serbia is an EU candidate country and Vucic said he expected he would face consequences because of his decision to go.

For Putin, the attendance of China’s Xi on Victory Day is seen as a significant achievement, and he praised the “courageous people of China” as he paid tribute to Russia’s allies in World War Two.

Putin and Xi held two rounds of talks before the parade as well as an informal chat on the war in Ukraine, Chinese reports said.

Joining the parade was a wide variety of Russian military hardware, including Yars missile systems, tanks and armoured personnel carriers. Six Su-25 military jets then flew over Red Square to complete the parade.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky had earlier warned that he could not guarantee the safety of anyone attending the event and has urged heads of state not to travel to Moscow.

Mykhailo Samus, a Ukrainian military analyst and director of the New Geopolitics Research Network, told the BBC he believed that Ukraine would forego attacking the parade, largely because of the presence of foreign leaders.

But should Ukraine choose to do so, it would constitute a legitimate military target, Samus said.

During his evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said that Ukraine was “ready for a full ceasefire starting right now”.

“But it must be real,” he said in a video on X. “No missile or drone strikes, no hundreds of assaults on the front.”

He called on Russia to support the ceasefire and “prove their willingness to end the war”.

Ukraine has accused Russia of violating its own truce thousands of times since it was supposed to come into effect on Wednesday night.

On the second day of the truce, Ukraine said there had been nearly 200 clashes along the front line, eighteen Russian air strikes and almost four thousand instances of shelling by Russian troops.

In Prymorske, a village in the Zaporizhzhia region, a woman was reportedly killed after a Russian drone struck her car.

Russia’s defence ministry has said that all groups of Russian forces in Ukraine “completely ceased combat operations and remained on the previously occupied lines and positions”. However, they were reacting in a “mirror-like manner” to violations by Ukrainian forces.

Zelensky has repeatedly dismissed Putin’s proposal as a “game” and called for a longer truce of at least 30 days, something that is supported by Ukraine’s allies in Europe and the US.

He said he had spoken with US President Donald Trump to reiterate his readiness for a “long and lasting peace” and talks “in any format”. He said he had told Trump that a 30-day ceasefire was a “real indicator” of moving towards peace.

Writing on Truth Social on Thursday, the US president reiterated the call for an unconditional ceasefire and warned of further sanctions for any party failing to sign up to it.

(BBC)