VE Day: Trump distances US from Europe alliance

The 8th anniversary last Thursday of the Allied victory over Nazi Germany (VE Day) was celebrated royally in Britain with marching bands and colour-coded regiments, a service in Westminster Cathedral, an air force fly-past, and wreath laying by King Charles and Queen Camilla.

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Ceremonies were held at war memorials in cities, towns, and villages in France, where VE day is a public holiday.

In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron laid a wreath at a statue of Charles de Gaulle, who led French forces during the war. Macron then walked to the Arc de Triomphe to tend the eternal flame at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and inspect waiting troops.

The French Defence Ministry said, “The 80th anniversary of the victory of 8 May 1945 implies, more than ever, a double responsibility to the last surviving witnesses of the war, and to the younger generation.”

In Germany, where VE day is commemorated as a day of liberation from the Nazis, Chancellor Friedrich Merz presided over a wreath-laying ceremony in Berlin and parliament held a remembrance service. German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier extended “profound thanks” to the Allied soldiers and the European resistance organisations for defeating the Nazis. While praising the Soviet Union for its role in World War II, he castigated Russia for invading Ukraine.

Russia marked the day on Friday with a military parade in Red Square in Moscow. Russia's President Vladimir Putin stood to attention in the reviewing stand while 11,000 soldiers marched past, some in the uniforms worn by Russian troops during World War II.

Putin had called for a three-day ceasefire in the Ukraine war in order to guarantee security for those attending or participating in the events. Among the guests were China's Xi Jinping, Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico, the only European Union figure to attend during a bloc boycott over the war with Ukraine.