Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two on Friday with a major military parade that went off without any reports of Ukrainian attacks despite three years of devastating war.

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.