Putin puts the finishing touches to his embarrassingly downsized Victory Day parade

[Kamaji]

Putin puts the finishing touches to his embarrassingly downsized Victory Day parade as doomsday plane joins fighters in a 'Z' formation for final rehearsal flypast over the Kremlin

By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE
4 May 2022

Fighter jets in a 'Z' formation ripped through the skies over Moscow today as Russia puts the final preparations on its Victory Day parade - an annual show of strength that Putin will use to drum up support for the war in Ukraine.

Eight MiG-29 jets formed the Z, a symbol that is now synonymous with the war and which is expected to conclude the fly-past on May 9, marking the day the Nazis surrendered to the Soviets at the end of World War Two. 

They were joined by an Ilyushin Il-80 - a modified passenger jet known as Putin's 'doomsday plane' because it is where he will rule the country from in the event of nuclear Armageddon - which has not featured in past parades.

Despite the addition of the doomsday jet, the Victory Day parade is set to be markedly smaller than in previous years because Russia has committed - and lost - so many of its military vehicles fighting in Ukraine.

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Source:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10781635/Ukraine-war-Russia-rehearses-Victory-Day-fly-past-Kremlin.html