Moscow Holds Heavily Guarded Victory Day Parade

Russian President Vladimir Putin presided over a tight-security Victory Day ceremony on Red Square, expressing confidence in eventual success in Ukraine while overseeing the capital’s annual commemoration of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany. Authorities imposed heightened measures across Moscow as the parade drew domestic and foreign dignitaries and followed a U.S.-brokered, short-lived three-day ceasefire meant to reduce the risk of disruptions. Putin used the occasion, Russia’s most important secular holiday, to praise troops fighting in Ukraine and to frame their campaign as confronting an aggressive force backed by NATO. He told assembled servicemembers and guests that “victory has always been and will be ours,” stressing unity, courage and moral strength as central to success. For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Red Square procession excluded tanks, missiles and other heavy ground weapons, with officials citing the “current operational situation” and heightened security concerns as the reason. Organizers said the display of hardware was curtailed because of the threat of attacks, although a traditional flyover by combat jets still took place. In a notable development, contingents of North Korean troops marched in the parade — a gesture reflecting Pyongyang’s growing military ties with Moscow and its reported involvement alongside Russian forces in repelling a Ukrainian incursion in the Kursk region. The inclusion marked a rare public show of cooperation between the two governments. The parade came on the heels of fragile and inconsistent ceasefire announcements. Russia had declared a unilateral halt to operations for Friday and Saturday, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had signaled a truce that was due to start on May 6, but both moves were undermined by continued exchanges of fire as each side blamed the other. U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had secured agreement for a ceasefire from both capitals covering Saturday through Monday and touted a prisoner exchange, calling the pause a potential “beginning of the end” of the conflict. Zelenskyy, who had warned Russian authorities feared drones over Red Square, later issued a pointed decree permitting Russia to hold its Victory Day events while mockingly declaring the area temporarily off-limits to Ukrainian strikes. The Kremlin dismissed the decree as a joke; spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow did not need anyone’s permission to commemorate the occasion. The standoff on the battlefield has become more complex as Russia, with larger and better-equipped forces, has made gradual gains along its long front, while Ukraine has increasingly struck deep into Russian territory with long-range weapons and drones capable of hitting targets hundreds of kilometers from the front line. Russian officials warned that any Ukrainian attempt to disrupt the festivities could prompt a large missile strike on central Kyiv and issued advisories urging civilians and diplomatic staff there to evacuate. The European Union said its diplomats would remain in the Ukrainian capital despite the warnings. Domestically, Victory Day remains one of the few broadly unifying events in Russia’s fractious political landscape, anchored in the memory of enormous wartime sacrifice. Putin invoked the immense losses of 1941–45 and framed the holiday as a time for pride, shared duty and remembrance of the defenders who secured a “grandiose victory.” Traditionally, Red Square parades have showcased a wide array of military hardware — from armored vehicles to intercontinental missiles — a practice largely in place each year since 2008. This year, however, that visual emphasis was pared back, and many smaller regional parades were either reduced in scale or canceled for security reasons. Moscow also restricted mobile internet access and text messaging within the city on the day of the parade, citing public-safety concerns. The move came amid a longer trend of tighter online controls and censorship that has provoked occasional public unease. Several foreign leaders attended or were scheduled to attend the Moscow events, including Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos’ President Thongloun Sisoulith, Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko. Slovakia’s prime minister planned a Kremlin visit and a wreath-laying at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier but opted not to participate on Red Square. The ceremony underscored how Victory Day continues to serve as a stage for Russian state ritual, international signaling and domestic messaging, even as the ongoing war in Ukraine reshapes the event’s format and security footprint.