Russia marks WWII victory with large military parade
Russia has kicked off its Victory Day military parade on Moscow’s Red Square, commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s triumph over Nazi Germany in World War II.
The Victory Day parade in the capital’s center began at 10:00 a.m. local time (0700 GMT) and is described as the largest of such events in the country’s history since the end of World War II known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War.
The parade showcases 16,000 marching servicemen, 194 units of military hardware, including the country’s latest weaponry such as the latest generation Armata tanks as well as 143 combat aircraft.
An aviation spokesman said ahead of the parade that the airspace over Moscow were to be closed for almost an hour with all civil aviation flights prohibited to operate from 10:30 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. local time due to the intensive aerial program at the event.
Military units from other nations namely Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Serbia and Tajikistan are also participating in the parade.
The parade is overlooked by President Vladimir Putin along with 20 other world leaders including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Chinese President Xi Jinping, India’s Pranab Mukherjee, South Africa’s Jacob Zuma, Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro as well as Cuba’s Raul Castro.
Some 2,300 people, including veterans from Russian and other nations have also been invited to join the celebrations.
Following the military parade, some 165,000 people are also expected to march through Moscow, carrying portraits of the relatives who fought during the 4-year war.
This is while similar parades were to be held in 25 other cities across Russia, including St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Novosibirsk and Crimea’s Sevastopol, with a total of 25,000 additional soldiers participating.
According to official data, some 27 million Soviet nationals, including both civilians and servicemen, died in the war against Nazi Germany in 1941-1945.
CAH/MKA/HMV
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