Thousands of troops, as well as tanks, fighter jets and intercontinental ballistic missile carriers featured in a pomp-filled parade on Red Square on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in the second world war. Vladimir Putin used a speech at the event, boycotted by most western leaders, to take a swipe at the US.

Victory Day, which in Russia is celebrated on 9 May, has been turned during Putin’s rule into the biggest holiday in the Russian calendar. Saturday’s parade, one of the biggest ever, was overseen by the president, in the company of world leaders including China’s Xi Jinping.

Thousands of Russian troops march across Red Square in Moscow on Saturday to mark the 70th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany. Guardian

Around 16,000 troops marched past the podium on Red Square, followed by dozens of tanks and weapons systems, including the Armata, a new generation of Russian tank which was being shown to the public for the first time, and a version of the BUK missile system, believed to have been responsible for the downing of a Malaysian Airlines passenger jet over Ukraine last year. It concluded with a flypast of around 200 military planes and helicopters.

In an address before the parade, Putin said Russia would never forget the role of allies such as Britain, France and the US during the war, but he also took the opportunity to air some grievances.

“Over the past decade, we are seeing more frequent attempts to ignore the basic principles of international cooperation,” said Putin. “We have seen attempts to create a unipolar world, and we see how forced bloc thinking is becoming more common.”

Western leaders mainly stayed away from the events, in protest at Russia’s actions in Ukraine over the past year. Britain was represented by Tory MP Nicholas Soames, the grandson of Winston Churchill. Even though the event was celebrating victory over fascism, some of the world’s most notorious despots were in attendance, including Uzbekistan’s Islam Karimov, Turkmenistan’s Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe. Also on the podium were Cuba’s Raúl Castro and Egypt’s Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Elsewhere in Moscow, hundreds of thousands of people walked in the sunshine, sang patriotic songs and offered flowers and congratulations to surviving veterans, who wore their old uniforms draped with medals.