In a slimmed-down celebration, Putin laid flowers at the Eternal Flame war memorial outside the Kremlin walls and delivered a speech. Fireworks were let off across Russia as much of the country remains in lockdown.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday came together to lay a wreath at the Neue Wache in Berlin, the country’s main memorial to the victims of the war and the Nazi dictatorship.

In the UK, commemorations started with a military flypast over London.

French President Emmanuel Macron took part in a scaled-down version of the traditional commemorations on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, with his two most recent predecessors, Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.