He said Victory Day was “our country’s biggest holiday”, adding that the veterans’ defeat of the Nazis was an inspiration for Russia’s seizure of Crimea. Last year, Putin attended Victory Day celebrations in Moscow and Sevastopol, Crimea, flying to the newly annexed territory to address veterans, soldiers and sailors of the Black Sea fleet. Russia’s efforts to link victory in the war with events in Ukraine have left many in the west feeling even more uncomfortable about going to the lavish 9 May events in Moscow. An official said she would send an envoy to represent her.

The South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, has ruled out attending. If Kim does show, there will not be a rare meeting between the leaders of the two Koreas. Details about his potential itinerary are currently unknown. But Russian officials have indicated privately that they believe North Korea’s supreme leader will attend. Kim Yong-nam, the president of Pyongyang’s rubber-stamp parliament, is technically the head of state, meaning that it is possible he may travel to Moscow instead. It said four Ukrainian servicemen had been wounded in attacks in the past 24 hours.But photographs recently surfaced of Kim Jr inside a private jet, suggesting he may fly to Moscow. Though a ceasefire is still tenuously holding, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday that separatists, backed by Russia, were keeping up attacks with artillery and mortar bombing on government forces in the east and south-east of Ukraine. Moscow, which annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine last year, accuses the West of orchestrating the events that led to the Ukrainian uprising. More than 6,100 people have been killed in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine which Kiev says has been stoked by Russia.

In a further sign of distancing itself from its former Soviet master, Ukraine joined most of Europe in a separate ceremony on Friday, a day before Russia.Īt a second ceremony on Saturday, Poroshenko said: “We will never again mark this day with the Russian scenario which cold-bloodedly uses our victory day as an apology for its expansionist policies and for keeping its neighbours in its orbit and recreating empire.” United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also among those watching.ĭignitaries from India, former Soviet republics and communist-era allies such as Cuba, also attended, underlining Russia’s role as an outcast in Europe. In a sign of closer ties between the two, a column of Chinese troops took part. Though Western leaders stayed away, Putin was joined under the Kremlin’s walls by about 30 foreign leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting on his right-hand side. Russia’s Vladimir Putin has used the anniversary to whip up patriotism and fuel anti-Western sentiment, and at a parade in Kiev President Petro Poroshenko said Moscow was trying to hog the credit for the World War Two victory at Ukraine’s expense. Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker fighters of the Russian Knights aerobatic display team and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum fighters of the Swifts aerobatic display team fly in formation over the Red Square during the Victory Day parade in Moscow, Russia, May 9, 2015.

Russian victory day parade 2015