Kremlin University students' performance at the Victory Square in Moscow (Photo: Anh Tu)

The highlights of this year’s celebration are a grand parade by the Russian armed forces in Red Square, and smaller parades in 28 other cities. A solemn ceremony was held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Moscow. Many schools organized tours for their students to visit exhibitions displaying relics of the Great Patriotic War. Citizens and veterans of Saint Petersburg on Tuesday gathered at the Piskarevskoe Cemetery to commemorate civilian victims of the Siege of Leningrad and soldiers who died defending the city.