Headed by military drummers and the tricolor national flag, the red Victory flag and the Flag of Armed Forces with hammer and sickle, Russian troops on Wednesday held an annual military parade on the Red Square to mark victory in World War II. Some 7,000 officers and soldiers took part in the parade on the cobbled square to celebrate the 62th anniversary of the Victory Day, marking the Allies’ victory in 1945 on the European front of the war, known in Russia as the Great Patriotic War.

Live TV broadcast showed that the one-hour ceremony was attended by President Vladimir Putin, veterans and foreign guests as well.

A group of uniformed servicemen with white, blue and red flags poking out of their rifle barrels, symbolizing the Russian tricolor, performed exercises after fighter planes flew over the cloudy sky in a diamond-shaped formation.

Russia estimated that 8.86 million Soviet soldiers were killed during World War II, the daily Gazeta newspaper said on Tuesday. The total casualties of both civilian and troops were estimated at 26.6 million.

The former Soviet Union entered the war in 1941 after Nazi leader Adolf Hitler broke off an earlier pact and invaded the Soviet territory.

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