Photos: Putin’s troops, tanks, missile launchers at Victory Day parade

Russia held its yearly military parade on Monday — Victory Day — to commemorate the Soviet Union’s role in defeating Nazi Germany during World War II.

Some Ukrainian officials had feared that Russian President Vladimir Putin would formally declare war on Ukraine or announce new commitments to the battlefield. But while the parade was rife with military pageantry and symbolism, and although Putin again argued that Russia’s invasion was justified, he did not make any declarations about an escalation.

Instead, the parade was a relatively toned-down affair. Some 131 pieces of military equipment were displayed — fewer than last year’s 190. Russian authorities also eschewed the flyover that typically accompanies the parade, blaming the weather even though the sky above Moscow appeared only partly cloudy.

Still, the parade was a display of Russia’s military force, featuring goose-stepping soldiers, tanks, armored vehicles, missile launchers and military bands. Some 11,000 service members assembled in Moscow’s Red Square and were greeted as the parade began by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

In his speech, Putin said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a “preemptive pushback” against what he characterized, without evidence, as Western provocations that threatened Russia.

He said soldiers were fighting “for the security of our motherland” in the eastern Donbas region of Ukraine and called Russia’s intervention “necessary, timely and the only right solution.”

Before his speech, Putin, who wore the orange and black military ribbon of the Order of St. George on his lapel, shook hands with some of the hundreds of World War II veterans in attendance. He then greeted troops and laid flowers at a memorial to unknown fallen soldiers.

The parade featured heavy weaponry, including a “legendary” World War II-era tank, howitzers, surface-to-air missile systems and intercontinental ballistic missile launchers, the Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported.

Robyn Dixon and Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.

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