President Putin Set To Send 'doomsday' Warning To West At Russia's WW2 Victory Parade (Photos,Video)

The warring president will hope to celebrate a triumph in Ukraine at the annual celebration, which marks Russia's victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two, raising fears of increased attacks on the war-torn country over this weekend.

Nuclear missiles have rolled through Moscow's Red Square in a chilling warning to the West as dictator Vladimir Putin prepares for his annual Victory Day parade on Monday.

The thermonuclear RS-24 Yars ballistic missile - which experts believe can can carry up to 10 warheads - was seen taking pride and joy as it was driven past rows of armed guards on a 16-wheeler vehicle during rehearsals on Saturday.

The intercontinental weapon, which weighs 49.6 tonnes, can travel up to 24,500km/hr and is capable of hitting targets up to 12,000km away - meaning it could strike London or New York within minutes.

The weapon of mass destruction was followed closely by several Iskander-M missile launchers during a rehearsal for the annual event, which is set to take place on Monday and which could see British fighters paraded as prisoners of war.

Jubilant soldiers and servicewomen were seen marching outside the Kremlin today in preparation for the celebration as they waved Russian flags, performed salutes and smiled at the cameras.

Eight MiG-29 fighters also flew past in a 'Z' formation - the insignia used by Putin's military as a symbol of its military action in Ukraine, which critics have likened to the swastika used by the Nazis.

Meanwhile, just 1,200km away, Ukrainian soldiers are preparing to make their last stand against Putin's warring forces in the strategic port city of Mariupol - where hundreds of civilians are cowering for their lives in tunnels underneath a steel mill as they attempt a last-ditch evacuation.

Ukraine's first deputy interior minister Yevhen Yenin warned that the symbolic date of Victory Day is like 'red to a bull' for Putin, who desperately needs to secure a victory, adding that while the world remembers victims of war, Russia is 'preparing to dance over bones in Mariupol'.

It comes after the Ukraine-based Centre for Defence Strategies said that 500 captured fighters could be 'forced to go through Red Square for cameras', according to The Times.

Three British fighters could be among the 500 after Aiden Aslin, 28, and Shaun Pinner, 48, were captured by Russian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol last month while they were fighting along-side Ukrainian defenders.

The pair, who had both lived in Ukraine for some time, were paraded on Russian state television after being seized when a large number of fighters surrendered.

A third British fighter, Andrew Hill, was also detained in Russia after a video surfaced showing the father of four from Plymouth being interrogated on Russian TV.

The fight for the last Ukrainian stronghold in a city reduced to ruins by the Russian onslaught appears increasingly desperate.

There is growing speculation that President Vladimir Putin wants to finish the battle for Mariupol so he can present a triumph to the Russian people in time for Monday's Victory Day, the biggest patriotic holiday on the Russian calendar.