On Moscow’s Red Square, Russia was celebrating the spoils of war.
A typically patriotic concert was held to mark the second anniversary of the Kremlin’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The event was more muted compared with the previous year when crowds were bussed in from regions outside the capital.
This time the audience appeared to be made up mainly of veterans and VIPs, who were seated on a stand in front of the multi-coloured domes of St Basil’s cathedral.
As representatives of a foreign media outlet, my team and I weren’t allowed anywhere near the celebrations. Not only were we denied accreditation, we were also moved on by police when we attempted to film from a side street close by.
But we could still hear the music and see the spotlights beaming up into the sky.
People carry a flag through the streets in Kherson. Pic: AP
The annexation of the four regions was widely condemned by the rest of the world because it defied international law.
The Kremlin-organised referendums that were used to justify the move were dismissed as shams, in what was the largest forcible land grab in Europe since the Second World War.
But that’s not how Moscow presents it, of course.
It claims these four occupied regions are Russia’s historical homelands, painting their seizure as a liberation from an evil regime.
Those we spoke to near Red Square agree.
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“We waited for this since 2014,” Kherson resident Yelena told us, referring to the Maidan uprising in Ukraine and Russia‘s subsequent seizure of Crimea.
She moved to Moscow following Russia’s occupation of her home region, but she longs to go back.
“However good it is here, we want to go home,” she said.
Yelena was among a small crowd of ticketless supporters who had gathered outside the police barriers, hoping to catch a glimpse of the event beyond.
Vladimir was another, draped in a Russian tricolour.
“We had to help them,” he told us, referring to the annexed regions.
“I am happy that I was born and raised in this country.”
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There is an irony to this year’s event, though.
As Russia celebrates the expansion of its borders, it has recently lost some of its own sovereign territory, following Ukraine’s incursion in the Kursk region.
Nearly two months on, Ukrainian forces continue to occupy a sizeable chunk of territory.
That wasn’t mentioned on Red Square.
Events like this are all about trumpeting the positives of this war, which is now approaching its third winter.
