All eyes are on Russia’s Victory Day parade on Tuesday, an annual event marking the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945.

Moscow usually uses the high-profile event in Moscow to show off its military hardware, parading massive missile launchers, battle tanks, and troops through Red Square as Russian President Vladimir Putin and military generals look on.

This year is expected to be a smaller affair, however, with the ongoing war in Ukraine involving much of Russia’s military personnel and hardware. Security concerns are also high on the Kremlin’s watchlist this year, particularly after a recent alleged drone attack on the Kremlin. Victory Day parades have been canceled in a number of places in Russia.

Russia could also intensify its military aggression against Ukraine today, given the parade and an uptick in attacks on the country in recent weeks, ahead of Kyiv’s expected counteroffensive. Russia has launched a wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities Kyiv, Odesa and Kherson in the last few days. Kyiv was targeted with more strikes overnight.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a speech as Moscow’s annual Victory Day parade got underway in Moscow that “real war is being waged against our Motherland.”

More than 10,000 people and 125 units of weapons and military equipment are set to be involved in the procession through Red Square in the Russian capital on Tuesday. The event commemorates the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

The Russian president gave a 10-minute speech in which he said Russia wanted a peaceful future but that “Western elites” were “sowing hatred and Russophobia” and that Ukrainians had become “hostages to a state coup” and the ambitions of the West.

He said the West had forgotten the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and that Russia was currently fighting for its own survival.

Putin accuses the West of “creating a real cult of Nazism.”

He suggests that “western elites” who are ‘preparing the new attack against Russia’ are “trying to cancel the results of the Second World War”https://t.co/FLgUCicVL3

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“Today, civilization is again at a decisive turning point. A real war has been unleashed against our homeland. We have repulsed international terrorism, we will protect the inhabitants of Donbas, we will ensure our security,” Putin said

source cnbc.com