A Divisive Show of Military Might in Moscow: What to Know

President Vladimir V. Putin will preside over a Victory Day parade on Red Square on Friday, a grand celebration of the Soviet triumph against Nazi Germany 80 years ago that is being used to highlight Russia’s past glories and justify the war with Ukraine.

Sitting with Mr. Putin in stands erected in front of Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum will be the leaders of China, Brazil and more than 20 other states, an effort by the Kremlin to showcase how countries of the “global south” aim to present a counterweight to the West.

They will watch a procession of thousands of soldiers, and dozens of armored vehicles, tanks and nuclear missile launchers. A regiment of Chinese soldiers will march in Red Square before the Kremlin’s crimson walls, and fighter jets are expected to fly over Moscow.

Why is this year’s parade significant?

This year, the parade is expected to be the largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia will be welcoming the highest number of foreign dignitaries since 2015 and their participation or absence will be examined in Moscow as signs of defiance or allegiance to the West.

At the end of April, Mr. Putin announced a three-day unilateral cease-fire in Ukraine, starting on May 8 to mark the celebrations. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine rejected the proposal, calling it a “theatrical show,” and proposed a 30-day truce that could allow for what he called meaningful negotiations to end the war. Mr. Zelensky also said that Ukraine would offer no security guarantees to guests of the parade in Moscow.

Emergency workers search for people buried beneath the rubble of an apartment building that was destroyed by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv in April.Credit…Brendan Hoffman for The New York Times