As Russian tanks, missiles and drones rumble through Red Square on Friday for the annual Victory Day parade celebrating the Soviet defeat of Nazi Germany, President Vladimir Putin will be joined by at least two dozen world leaders, marking a victory of his own as a leader the West has sought to isolate.

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.

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.