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People are reflected in the glass of a bus stop as a Russian T-90 tank participates in the rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade on Red Square in Moscow.
People are reflected in the glass of a bus stop as a Russian T-90 tank participates in the rehearsal for the Victory Day military parade on Red Square in Moscow.

Live Blog: Victory Day In Russia

Key Points

-- Russia is rolling out its military might in a Red Square parade featuring 16,000 troops and an arsenal of hardware from the latest generation Armata tanks to 143 combat aircraft.

-- The event marks 70 years since victory over Nazi Germany by Allied forces -- a victory which Moscow now largely claims as its own.

-- Two dozen world leaders have flown to Russia for the parade, but Western leaders have chosen to stay away.

11:56 9.5.2015

Impressive photo of the parade in Moscow today:

11:53 9.5.2015

AP photographer Andrey Basevich has this picture of a Crimean Tatar in Simferopol, the capital of the Ukrainian region of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in March 2014, shortly after he tried to grab a portrait of Stalin away from a Victory Day celebrator. Stalin infamously deported the Crimea Tatar people in May 1944:

Here is some RFE/RL Ukrainian Service video of events in Simferopol.

11:49 9.5.2015

Here are several images from the Victory Day ceremonies in Sevastopol, the port city on the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea that was annexed by Russia in March 2014:

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11:46 9.5.2015

Victory Day ceremonies in Samarkand, Uzbekistan:

11:36 9.5.2015

The Moscow Times has gathered a small collection of Soviet songs devoted the war against Nazi Germany. They are all worth a listen -- and they are ringing out across the former Soviet Union today.

Here's one:

11:22 9.5.2015

Another Stalin portrait at May 9 remembrance ceremonies in Kyiv:

11:21 9.5.2015

This birdseye view of Kyiv makes the point that Ukraine is remembering World War II beginning from 1939, and not beginning from the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941:

10:55 9.5.2015

Marking Victory Day with Stalin's portrait in Kyiv:

10:46 9.5.2015

According to Russia's LifeNews, during Victory Day events in the Chechen capital, Grozny, soldiers threw the banners and symbols of defeated Nazi Germany at the feet of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who appeared to be dressed in the uniform of a Soviet marshal.

10:28 9.5.2015

Lest anyone forget:

And here is a gallery of some powerful images from Hitler's Germany and the war (many images not for the faint of heart).

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