Some 72 years on, feelings still run high over the sacrifices made by the Soviet Union. It lost more of its citizens than any other country in the conflict – around 25 million.
Addressing the parade in Moscow, President Vladimir Putin said: “No force will be able to dominate our people.”
“I congratulate you on Victory Day, when greatness is defined by the people, by their unprecedented heroic deed – the salvation of the Fatherland and heroic, decisive contribution to the defeat of Nazism.”