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The May 9 parade in Red Square marks the most important state holiday in Russia, a moment to celebrate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and to honor the 27 million Soviet citizens, including many Ukrainians, who lost their lives during the war.
Russia held its most modest Victory Day parade in recent years due to the threat of Ukrainian attacks, while victory for Moscow's forces in Ukraine remains elusive after more than four years of Europe's deadliest conflict since World War II.
The May 9 parade in Red Square represents the most important state holiday in Russia, a day to celebrate the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany and to honor the 27 million Soviet citizens, including many Ukrainians, who lost their lives during the war.
Once used to demonstrate Russia's vast military might, including intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, this year's parade did not include tanks or other military equipment that usually parade across the cobblestones of Red Square, Reuters reported.
Soldiers and sailors, some of whom have served in Ukraine, marched and cheered as President Vladimir Putin watched the ceremony, seated next to Russian veterans on the grandstand next to the mausoleum of Vladimir Lenin.
He added that he would like to see “a significant extension” of the ceasefire. There were no reports of ceasefire violations from either Moscow or Kiev.
Russia, which launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, warned that any attempt by Kiev to disrupt Saturday's ceremony would result in a massive missile attack on the Ukrainian capital. Moscow told foreign diplomats they must evacuate personnel from Kiev in the event of such an attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued an ironic decree "allowing" the Russian military parade to take place on May 9, declaring that Ukrainian weapons will not be aimed at Red Square, Reuters reports.
Security in Moscow was tight. Reuters photos showed armed soldiers on trucks and blocked roads around the center of the capital, which, together with the surrounding region, has a population of about 22 million.
After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, the Red Army eventually managed to push Nazi forces back to Berlin, where Adolf Hitler committed suicide and the red Soviet flag of victory was raised over the Reichstag in May 1945.
The unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany took effect at 11:01 p.m. on May 8, 1945, a date that Britain, the United States, and France mark as “Victory in Europe Day.” In Moscow, meanwhile, May 9 had already dawned, which became the Soviet Union’s “Victory Day” in what Russians call the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945.
However, this year's parade takes place in an atmosphere of anxiety in Moscow regarding the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
The war has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, left parts of Ukraine in ruins and sapped Russia's $3 trillion economy, while relations between Russia and Europe are at their worst since the height of the Cold War.
"The crisis is gradually deepening, but any sudden move could lead the economy, and not only the economy, to collapse," wrote pro-war Russian nationalist Igor Girkin on Telegram, who has criticized the Kremlin for the way it is waging the war.
Girkin, a former officer of the Federal Security Service (FSB), used a naval analogy, saying that Russian leaders are more worried about losing their cabins than about the ship sinking.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov this week dismissed reports by CNN and other Western media outlets that Putin's security had been tightened due to fears of a coup or assassination. Russian officials dismissed reports of a coup plot as nonsense.
CNN cited a European intelligence agency as saying that former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is seen as a potential figure to lead a coup.
Security Council Secretary Shoigu, who on Friday participated in an online meeting of the Security Council chaired by Putin, was also present at the parade, sitting next to some of the Kremlin's most powerful officials.
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