Russia held its most scaled-back Victory Day parade in years on Saturday due to the threat of attack from Ukraine, where victory for Moscow’s forces has proven elusive more than four years into the deadliest European conflict since World War Two.
The May 9 parade on Red Square marks Russia’s most revered national holiday – a time to celebrate the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany and to pay homage to the 27 million Soviet citizens, including many from Ukraine, who perished.
Once used to show off Russia’s vast military, including its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, the parade this year had no tanks or other military equipment rolling over the cobbles of Red Square.
Instead, weapons including a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, the new Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine, the Peresvet laser weapon, the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter, the S-500 surface-to-air missile system and a host of drones and artillery were shown on giant screens on Red Square, and on state television.
Soldiers and sailors, some of whom have served in Ukraine, marched and cheered as President Vladimir Putin looked on, seated beside Russian veterans in the shadow of Vladimir Lenin’s Mausoleum. North Korean troops, who fought against Ukrainians in Russia’s Kursk region, also marched.
Fighter planes flew above the towers of the Kremlin and Putin made an eight minute speech, promising victory in the war in Ukraine which the Kremlin calls the “special military operation”.
“The great feat of the victorious generation inspires the soldiers carrying out the tasks of the special military operation today,” Putin said. “They are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And in spite of that, our heroes march forward.”
After Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating unilateral ceasefires they had each declared over recent days, US President Donald Trump announced a three-day ceasefire from Saturday to Monday that was supported by the Kremlin and Kyiv. The two sides also agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners.
“I’d like to see it stop. Russia-Ukraine – it’s the worst thing since World War Two in terms of life. Twenty-five thousand young soldiers every month. It’s crazy,” Trump told reporters in Washington.
