The Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that next week’s annual Victory Day parade will be conducted without tanks, missiles, or other heavy military equipment, due to the “current operational situation” in Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov more explicitly blamed the threat of “terrorist activity” from Ukraine as the reason for scaling back the parade.
“All measures are being taken to minimize the danger,” Peskov said.
Victory Day is Russia’s holiday to commemorate victory over Nazi Germany in World War II. During the quarter-century reign of nationalist strongman Vladimir Putin, the event has increasingly become an opportunity to push a revised version of history in which Russia almost single-handedly defeated the Germans.
This became particularly evident after 2022, as Russia’s erstwhile World War II allies in Europe and the United States turned against Putin for invading Ukraine. Putin uses Victory Day for a propaganda counteroffensive, likening the Ukrainians to the defeated Nazis and his own regime as heir to the heroes of the “Great Patriotic War.” Inconveniently for this narrative, the war in Ukraine has now dragged on for longer than the war with Germany.
Victory Day is also generally taken as an opportunity for Putin to show off Russia’s military strength, often with representatives from allies such as China and North Korea in attendance.
The Russians took a good deal of ribbing for scaling the Victory Day parade back in 2023 and 2024 as the war with Ukraine wore on, but the 2025 parade for the 80th anniversary of Victory Day was a grand spectacle, seemingly intended to show that Russia could replenish its losses in Ukraine. The complete absence of big-ticket military hardware from the 2026 parade is a clear embarrassment for Putin.
Not only will the “columns of military equipment” be absent from Red Square this year, but the Defense Ministry said there would be fewer soldiers marching in the parade, and no cadets from the major Russian military academies. The last time the parade was conducted without any military vehicles was in 2007.
The BBC noted that rumors that Russia’s anxiety about Ukrainian drone attacks might lead it to reduce the Victory Day parade began swirling on military blogs this month. Pro-Putin bloggers were horrified at the thought of the parade getting hit by a Ukrainian strike, or turned into a scene of panic by air raid warnings. They also noticed that none of the usual preparations for a massive parade were being made by Moscow.
“Ukraine’s ability to strike deep into Russian territory has indeed grown in recent years, and generally speaking, a breach of air defense during this parade, with all the distinguished guests present, is absolutely a very real threat,” said Kirill Martynov, editor-in-chief of Russia’s independent Novaya Gazeta Europe, as quoted by Radio Free Europe on Wednesday.
“No one understands when the war will end or under what circumstances. More and more people, even among those who supported the war, are feeling some disappointment about it,” he added, predicting the scaled-down parade would not be well-received.
On Tuesday, Putin announced a unilateral 72-hour ceasefire with Ukraine on “humanitarian grounds,” to begin on May 8. Ukraine dismissed the announcement as mere theatrics surrounding the Victory Day parade.
“If Russia truly wants peace, it must cease fire immediately,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.
“Why wait for May 8? If we can cease fire now from any date and for 30 days — so that it is real, and not just for a parade,” Sybiha said.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Putin’s posturing was meant as an insult to Ukraine, who would never plan an attack on a major public event with thousands of civilians in attendance.
Putin’s ceasefire will reportedly be accompanied by a massive Internet and mobile blackout, beginning on May 5, ostensibly to disrupt Ukrainian targeting.
The leftist New York Times reported that, in place of their cell phone communications, Putin will offer Russians “a live broadcast showing troops at the front line in Ukraine and crews of the Russian nuclear forces, aerospace divisions and Navy vessels.”
