Vladimir Putin has led Russia's Victory Day commemorations with a parade in Red Square and heightened security after days of Ukrainian strikes targeting the capital. China's Xi Jinping joined Putin as he told thousands of soldiers and more than 20 international leaders that Russia remembered the lessons of World War Two.

Victory Day, celebrated on May 9, is Russia’s most important secular holiday, reflecting its wartime sacrifice. But it’s also used by the Kremlin to bolster patriotism and regain the superpower prestige it lost when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday equated his war in Ukraine with the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany, as Moscow marked the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a major military parade.

Harry Arlin, 97, William DeGroat,102, and Abe Meltzer, 99, participated in a ceremony at The Museum of American Armor in Old Bethpage.