The 100-metre (300-foot), sword-wielding statue of “The Motherland” is seen in the National Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War in Kiev March 17, 2014. On a blustery day on the banks of the Dnieper, the statue of “The Motherland”, a Soviet hammer and sickle on her shield, towered overhead, a reminder of the common cause Ukrainians and Russians died for side by side in their millions in World War Two and which Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks Ukraine has betrayed by turning to “fascism” and the West. (Photo by Konstantin Grishin/Reuters)

World War Two veteran Abla Begaliyev, 91, is seen in an undated handout picture (L), poses for a picture in Arashan (Top R) and at home in Kyrgyzstan April 14, 2015. Begaliyev served in the border guard cavalry from February 1942 until April 1947. Originally from Kyrgyzstan, he fought on the Ukrainian front and relocated to the border with Afghanistan at the end of World War Two. As the world marks the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, Reuters photographers the length and breadth of the former Soviet republics (CCCP) captured portraits of Red Army veterans, mostly now in their 80s and 90s, today and through archive pictures at the time. More than 20 million Soviet citizens were killed in the war. (Photo by Vladimir Pirogov/Reuters/Family handout (L))

“The Challenge!” Young boy relishes in a game of tug of war before school. Photo location: Lake Titicaca, Peru. (Photo and caption by Paul Heyman/National Geographic Photo Contest)

South Korean soldiers participate in a winter river crossing operation in preparation for a possible North Korean attack on February 8, 2012 in Yeoju, South Korea. The Korean peninsula is the world's last Cold War frontier as stalinist North Korea and pro-western South Korea have been technically at war since the 1950-53 conflict. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

Veterans of the Bangladesh war of liberation march past during the celebration of the country’s 45th Victory Day at the national parade ground in Dhaka December 16, 2015. (Photo by Ashikur Rahman/Reuters)

Teachers, students and sympathizers take part in an anti-government protest in Budapest on March 15, 2023, to mark the 175th anniversary of the 1848-1849 Hungarian Civic Revolution and War of Independence. (Photo by Peter Kohalmi/AFP Photo)

A woman carries her cat as Palestinians who had taken refuge in temporary shelters return to their homes in eastern Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip during the first hours of a four-day truce in the battles between Israel and Hamas militants, on November 24, 2023. A four-day truce in the Israel-Hamas war began on November 24, with hostages set to be released in exchange for prisoners in the first major reprieve in seven weeks of war that have claimed thousands of lives. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP Photo)

Crowds look on as Xolo the Giant Dog, one of the giant Royal De Luxe street puppets taking part in Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations, walks through the streets of Liverpool on July 25, 2014 in Liverpool, England. French street theatre company Royal de Luxe are putting on a show throughout the city as part of Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations from July 23-27. The giant puppet grandmother has slept in the hall for two days as part of “Memories of August 1914”. As the giants tour the city the Little Girl Giant and her dog Xolo will meet up with the giant Grandmother telling the story of life leading up to World War One. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)