Victory Parade ends on Red Square in Moscow UPDATED

A military parade marking the 77th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War ended on Red Square in Moscow with a passage of a mechanized column, RIA Novosti reports.

In total, 131 units of military equipment marched through the square. At the back of the column were strategic missile systems "Yars" and the newest "Boomerang" armored personnel carriers. The last to leave the square was the combined military orchestra.

The parade was to have ended with a flight of 77 planes and helicopters, but Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier told RIA Novosti that the air part of the parade in Moscow had been canceled due to weather.

11:17

A parade marking the 77th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War has started on Red Square in Moscow, TASS reports.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, veterans and guests of the event are on the central podium. Army General Oleg Salyukov, Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces, commands the parade, while Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu accepts it. After the minister's report on readiness for the parade, the head of state will address the Russians from the platform of the main square of the country.

The victory parade will be opened by military staff on foot. This year, parade columns will march along Red Square. They will include officers, sergeants and soldiers from compounds and military units, students and cadets from military educational institutions, students of Suvorov and Nakhimov colleges and cadet corps, participants in the All-Russian movement "Young Army," and units of the Emergency Ministry, Federal Guard Service and Border Troops of the Federal Security Service and the All-Russian Cossack Society. In total, about 11,000 people will march at the Parade.