Russian President Vladimir Putin led celebrations marking 80th anniversary of the end of World War II with a parade in Moscow's Red Square of 11,000 troops, with World War II-era T-34 tanks alongside advanced weaponry.

Moscow's grand avenues, like every year in early May, were taken over by the growling of 80-year-old tanks and the smell of gasoline burned by military vehicles. To the delight of many locals, soldiers marched in multiple rehearsals for the May 9 Victory Day Parade in the week leading up to the actual event.

Russia marks the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on Friday with a military parade attended by China's Xi Jinping that Moscow fears Ukraine will try to disrupt after three years of devastating war.