President Vladimir Putin said Russia was going through a difficult period, remarking on the war in Ukraine during his speech at the annual military parade in Moscow celebrating the end of World War II.“Russia is now going through a difficult, transitional period,” Putin told the crowd. “The fate of the Motherland, its future depends on each of us.”“We celebrate Victory Day in the context of the special military operation,” he said, using Russia’s official term for its full-scale war in Ukraine, and referring to soldiers on the front line as “our heroes.”Russia observes Victory Day every year on May 9 to commemorate the Soviet victory over the Nazis in 1945. Credit: The Kremlin via Storyful