MOSCOW, RUSSIA - MAY 9, 2025 - RESTRICTION: USERS MUST CREDIT “KREMLIN PRESS OFFICE” HANDOUT, MUST NOT OBSCURE LOGO —EDITORIAL USE ONLY — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday argued that truth and justice are on his country’s side and that all of Russia supports its “special military operation” in Ukraine as he gave an address on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day. “Truth and justice are on our side. The entire country, society, and people support the participants of the special military operation. We are proud of their courage and determination. That strength of spirit that has always brought us only victory,” Putin said during his address at the annual Victory Day parade held in Moscow’s Red Square. Expressing that Russia remembers the lessons of World War II, Putin said that they will never agree to the distortion of its history amid “attempts to justify the executioners and slander the true victors.” Putin further said that representatives of various nationalities who crushed Nazism during World War II will forever remain in history as Russian soldiers, particularly noting the contribution of the residents of Central Asia and the Caucasus to the Soviet Union’s victory in the war. “The complete defeat of Nazi Germany, militarist Japan and their satellites in various regions of the world was achieved through the joint efforts of the United Nations,” Putin also said. The Russian president went on to say that the Soviet Union took upon itself the "most ferocious, merciless blows" of its adversary in the conflict, adding that they determined its entire outcome through its victories in major battles.