Russia has celebrated the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, with President Vladimir Putin presiding over a massive parade of tanks, missiles and troops through Red Square.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has taken center stage at Russia’s Victory Day parade on Friday, surrounding himself by friendly world leaders in a highly choreographed show designed to show the Western world that Russia is far from isolated.

The identities of Yellow Ribbon activists who live in Russian-occupied territory have been withheld for security reasons. "When my child hears about May 9 they almost scream, and so do I," an activist with the Ukrainian Yellow Ribbon civil resistance group currently living in the Russian-occupied town of Tokmak in Zaporizhzhia Oblast,