For Moscow, the war in Ukraine is a rerun of World War II

May 9, Victory Day in Russia celebrating the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, has always been a moment of intense pride for Russians, recalling their grandparents’ resilience and heroism. Sometimes it feels as if the war ended just the other day.

This year, it seems even more immediate, as the Kremlin’s messaging seeks to conflate World War II with its invasion of Ukraine, blending them into one struggle against “Nazism.”

Once upon a time, the narrative runs, Napoleon tried and failed to defeat Russia; then the Germans followed suit; and now it is NATO’s turn to be humiliated.

That message is displayed at a major exhibition, currently showing in Moscow’s Victory Park, where some 40 armored vehicles captured from Ukrainian forces are on show. Star exhibits seem to be a U.S. Bradley Fighting Vehicle and an M1 Abrams tank, but hardware made in Britain, Turkey, and Australia, among other countries, also attracts attention from the crowds of visitors.

“The display of these defeated weapons will have a tonic effect on the Russian public,” says Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser. “There is still a great deal of respect among Russians for Western technology, so seeing these smashed weapons up close will temper that.”

The atmosphere around Victory Day on May 9, a holiday celebrating the anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, is always charged with martial fervor and a sense of Russia’s enduring resilience. The intensity almost makes it feel as though the war ended only recently.

This year, it seems even more immediate.

With Moscow’s “special military operation,” as its invasion of Ukraine is still officially known, well into its third year, there is a distinct note in official messaging that suggests that World War II never really ended. Victory is a concept that has morphed from the past to future tense.

Since the war in Ukraine started, the Kremlin has sought to conflate the Soviet Union’s 20th-century struggle against Nazi Germany with today’s campaign to “denazify” Ukraine – a claim most in the West find incomprehensible. But the Kremlin appears to have convinced most Russians that they are not fighting a war for territory and regional control in Ukraine, but facing a recurring effort by the united West to subdue Russia.

In this reading, Ukraine is merely acting as the West’s battering ram.

“From the Russian point of view this is an existential challenge that we face every century,” says Sergei Markov, a former Kremlin adviser. “United Europe turns and attacks Russia.