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.

Russia is marking the 80th anniversary of Victory Day as a few dozen leaders fly in to watch and meet with Putin. Victory day has become an opportunity for Russia to try to frame the Ukraine war in the same light as the second world war.

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.