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Russia holds final rehearsal of Victory Day Parade on Moscow’s Red Square

Participants in the special military operation in Ukraine will also march across Red Square

© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. A final rehearsal of the military parade to mark the 79th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Victory over Nazi Germany in the 1941-1945 Great Patriotic War took place on Moscow’s Red Square on Sunday.

During the final rehearsal, regiments, battalions and companies of the armed services and military branches, parade units from Suvorov infantry and Nakhimov naval, cadet and military musical schools, members of the Young Army youth movement, female service members, Cossacks and a consolidated military band marched across Red Square.

A legendary WWII T-34 tank with the red banner traditionally led the mechanized column during the final rehearsal on Moscow’s Red Square. It was followed by Tigr armored wheeled vehicles, BTR-82A and Bumerang armored personnel carriers, Iskander-M tactical missile systems, S-400 surface-to-air missile launchers and Yars road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) systems.

The final rehearsal ended with a fly-past of combat aircraft involving the aerobatic groups Russkiye Vityazi (Russian Knights) flying Su-30SM fighter jets and Strizhi (Swifts) on MiG-29 jets and a group of six Su-25 attack aircraft that released fumes in the colors of the Russian national flag.

The main military parade on Moscow’s Red Square will traditionally take place on May 9. This year, it will involve more than 9,000 troops, 75 weapons systems and also aircraft. Participants in the special military operation in Ukraine will also march across Red Square during the military parade.

Overall, military parades will take place in 28 Russian cities on May 9 and involve more than 50,000 troops and about 1,000 items of armament and military hardware.

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