France, May 9 -- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday evoked the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany to rally his country round the Ukraine offensive at a grand military parade in Moscow in front of his key allies.

The Kremlin is using its annual Victory Day parade- marking 80 years since the end of World War II- to whip up patriotism at home and project strength abroad as its troops fight in Ukraine.

More than 20 foreign dignitaries, including China's President Xi Jinping, were in Red Square for the event, the fourth since Moscow launched a full-scale military assault on its neighbour in 2022.

"The whole country, society and people support the participants of the special military operation," Putin said in an address to the ...