Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Soviet Union soldiers who fought in World War Two during his visit to a war memorial on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

The Russian leader vowed to continue fighting what he called "Nazism".

St. Petersburg, then called Leningrad, was the scene of a fierce battle. Hundreds of thousands of people died during the siege by Nazi Germany, which lasted nearly 900 days.

Putin commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Red Army ending the siege on Saturday.

He laid flowers at a cemetery and said at a new monument to honor those who died during the war that "we will do all we can to halt and eradicate Nazism."

The Russian leader has stated that the goal of his military operation against Ukraine is "denazification."

His close ally President Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus joined him and spoke about the shared history of the two countries during the war.

Putin rallied the Russian people and their support, stressing the victory of the Soviet Union in the World War Two with various events to honor those who fell victim during the war.