Russia Holds Toned-Down Victory Day Parade Amid Security Fears

Russia launched its annual Victory Day parade in Moscow to commemorate the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. The event took place on Red Square at 10 a.m. local time, with military formations carrying the Russian flag.

This year’s parade was scaled down due to security concerns. Security was tightened as President Vladimir Putin delivered a speech, calling it Russia’s most important secular holiday. Over more than 25 years in power, Putin has often used Victory Day to display military might and rally support for the war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year. However, for the first time in nearly two decades, the parade featured no tanks, missiles, or other heavy weaponry, except for a flyover by fighter jets.

Officials said the sudden change was due to the 'current operational situation,' citing the risk of Ukrainian attacks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said authorities had taken 'additional security measures.'

Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a ceasefire request lasting from Saturday to Monday and to exchange prisoners, calling it a possible 'beginning of the end' of the war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy issued a mock decree allowing Russia to hold its Victory Day celebrations, declaring Red Square temporarily outside Ukraine’s attack zone.

In response, Peskov called Zelenskyy’s decree 'a silly joke' and stressed that Russia needed no permission to be proud of Victory Day. Russian authorities warned that if Ukraine tried to disrupt the festivities, Russia would carry out 'a massive missile strike on the center of Kyiv.'

Victory Day was also commemorated in other former Soviet states such as Belarus and Kazakhstan. The Soviet Union lost 27 million people from 1941 to 1945 in what it calls the Great Patriotic War, a sacrifice that left deep scars on the national psyche and remains a rare point of consensus in the country’s divided history under communist rule.