A growing crop of Russian soldiers have been tapped to fill a wave of government positions after serving in Ukraine, raising the prestige of military service and encouraging more people to enlist.

Russia is turning Victory Day into a tool of propaganda and mobilization. Several European countries have urged not to allow the Kremlin to use the memory of World War II to justify new aggression, The New York Times reports.

As the clock approached the time the Kremlin said its guns would fall silent for three days, the men at the National Guard monitoring center in eastern Ukraine had absolutely no faith in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire.