STORY: Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of risking a global conflict, saying no one would be allowed to threaten the world's biggest nuclear power.
He spoke on Red Square on Thursday (May 9), as Russia marked the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.
"Russia will do everything to prevent a global conflict. But at the same time, we will not allow anyone to threaten us. Our strategic forces are always in combat readiness."
Despite unseasonably cold weather and snow, crowds of Russians gathered in the center of Moscow to watch the Victory Day parade.
It's an annual display of Russia's military might.
But this year, the parade was pared down, indicating strains borne from more than two years of war in Ukraine.
Russia showed off just one T-34 tank, though also displayed a Yars intercontinental strategic missile.
Fighter jets also flew past streaming the Russian tricolor, and soldiers who took part in the conflict in
Ukraine marched around the square.
No Western leaders attended the parade.
Putin accused "arrogant" Western elites of forgetting the decisive role played by the Soviet Union in defeating Nazi Germany, and of stoking conflicts across the world.
His comments came as Russian troops advanced against Ukraine's Western-backed forces.
Putin casts the war as part of a struggle with the West.
He says Western powers humiliated Russia after the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 by interfering with what he considers Moscow's sphere of influence.
Ukraine and the West say Putin is engaged in an imperial-style land grab.
They have vowed to defeat Russia, which currently controls about 18% of Ukraine, including Crimea.
Russia says the land, once part of the Russian empire, is now again part of Russia.
Russian officials warn that the Ukraine war is entering the most dangerous phase to date.
And Putin has repeatedly warned of the risk of the war broadening out to involve the world's biggest nuclear powers.
The Soviet Union lost 27 million people in World War Two, including many millions in Ukraine.
But it eventually pushed Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet Victory Banner was raised over the Reichstag in 1945.
