Russia parades missile systems and tanks in Moscow ahead of WWII Victory Day
Russian nuclear missile systems were pictured rolling through Moscow on Sunday as the country ramps up preparations for its military parade celebrating victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.
The thermonuclear-armed RS-24 Yars intercontinental ballistic missile system units (known as SS-29 by Nato) were among a sea of military vehicles and soldiers rehearsing for Thursday’s Red Square Victory Day Parade.
British and American armoured vehicles captured in the conflict with Ukraine have already gone on display in Moscow in a month-long exhibition to coincide with the commemorations.
The display, which is running from 1 May to 1 June, features 30 types of vehicle from 12 countries, including a Saxon armoured personnel carrier used by the British Army and donated to Kyiv in 2015.
The thermonuclear-armed Yars missile units joined other Russian military vehicles in the main rehearsal for Thursday’s event (Photo: Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters)
More than 9,000 participants and 70 military vehicles and planes are expected to attend the parade in the capital city, marking the 79th anniversary of the win in 1945.
Russian service members drive armoured vehicles, including Tigr-M all-terrain infantry mobility cars, after the rehearsal for the parade (Photo: Yulia Morozova/Reuters)
Russian S-400 anti-aircraft missile system launchers were seen driving along Red Square, near St Basil’s Cathedral, during the rehearsal, while a soldier rode atop a Soviet era T-34 tank. Other servicemen were seen on Z-STS armoured vehicles during the main rehearsal for the central Moscow parade.
Russian honour guard soldiers march in the rehearsal ahead of the 79th anniversary of the 1945 victory over Nazi Germany on 9 May (Photo: Sergei Kiselev/Moskva News Agency/AFP)
They were joined by Phoenix armoured cars developed for the Russian military, a BTR-82A armoured personnel carrier, as well as Tigr-M all-terrain infantry mobility cars.
Male and female Russian service members, cadets and members of the youth army military-patriotic movement marched in columns during the final rehearsal before Victory Day.
Soldiers, cadets and the youth army all marched in preparation for the march (Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP)
Parades will take place in 28 Russian cities on Thursday and involve more than 50,000 troops and about 1,000 items of armament and military hardware, according to the country’s state-run Tass news agency.
Recent commemorations have become as much a glorification of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as of the defeat of Nazism.
A Russian S-400 air defence system unit practises for the parade in the capital, which will be overseen by President Vladimir Putin (Photo:Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
Visitors to this month’s exhibition at the Victory Park open-air museum in Moscow will be able to see British Army Mastiff and Husky armoured patrol vehicles as well as an American Bradley tank, a German Leopard tank, a Swedish CV90 combat vehicle and a French AMX-10 mini tank.
Weapons from Austria, Turkey, Finland, Australia and South Africa are also on display in what is described as a celebration of Russia’s success “against Ukrainian militants and their Western supporters”.
Russian service members drive a BTR-82A armoured personnel carrier along Red Square during the rehearsal (Photo:Maxim Shemetov/Reuters)
Last year, a similar event was held at Patriot Park near Moscow, where a range of captured Western military equipment was showcased including an American-made M113 armoured personnel carrier and a French-made Storm Shadow cruise missile. It is unclear when any of the equipment and vehicles were seized.
The images emerged as Russia on Sunday launched a barrage of drones concentrated in Ukraine’s east, wounding more than a dozen people. Ukraine’s air force said that Russia had launched 24 Shahed drones overnight, of which 23 were shot down.
Russia’s defence ministry announced on Sunday that its troops had taken control of the village of Ocheretyne, which has been in the crosshairs of Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
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The village lies north-west of the former Ukrainian stronghold of Avdiivka, which Russia captured in February.
Russia has made slow but steady advances since taking Avdiivka, with a series of villages in the area falling to Moscow’s forces.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Dnipro regions and the Black Sea port city of Odesa killed at least two civilians, set a food factory ablaze and damaged other infrastructure, homes and commercial buildings on Saturday, regional officials said.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said the country’s 110th mechanised brigade had brought down a Russian Su-25 fighter-bomber over the eastern Donetsk region, one of four areas of Ukraine Moscow says it has annexed.
Officials in Kyiv urged residents to follow Orthodox Easter services online on Sunday due to safety concerns.