On the 9th of May each year, Russia celebrates Victory Day in World War II as a “national occasion like no other,” and it has been marked for years with a speech by President Vladimir Putin, whose significance has grown with the escalation of the war in Ukraine.

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At this time of year, Red Square in central Moscow witnesses a massive military parade featuring thousands of servicemen and women, along with scores of vehicles and aircraft.

According to Russian media, today’s Thursday parade saw participation from “heroes of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, as well as dozens of vehicles, helicopters, and combat aircraft of various types, including strategic bombers carrying missiles and nuclear bombs.”

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What is Victory Day?

It is a national holiday celebrated in Russia and several former Soviet republics to commemorate the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War II.

In May 1945, Nazi Germany signed an unconditional surrender, ending World War II, thus declaring its defeat in an event among the bloodiest in history, where tens of millions of people perished, and millions more were displaced worldwide.

The Soviet Union was part of a broader alliance fighting against Germany, but it bore the brunt of the war, with much of the fighting taking place on its soil.

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Despite Germany’s surrender that month, fighting on the fronts did not cease at that time, as the war against Japan in Asia continued until August of that year.

The memory of victory in the Soviet Union remained a limited celebration in four major cities for two decades after the war’s end, and it was not an official holiday during this period.

However, starting from 1963, the then-Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev deemed it necessary to give greater attention to this occasion, in an attempt to bolster national spirit.

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Brezhnev sought to imbue the day with a sense of sanctity by launching nationwide events, organizing a military parade in Red Square, and making the commemoration day a national holiday.