The televised parade featured thousands of goose-stepping Russian soldiers but limited military hardware. Russia's Victory Day ceremony traditionally echoes the grand military parades of the Soviet era, yet was scaled back amid the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin assailed the West for unleashing a "real war" against Russia, as the Kremlin leader sought to link events in Ukraine with ceremonies marking the 78th anniversary of the Soviet Union's defeat of Nazi Germany. Gavril Grigorov/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images was expected to announce Tuesday that it will provide $1.2 billion more in long-term military aid to Ukraine to further bolster its air defenses.Russian President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on Tuesday. In the latest help from a NATO member, the U.S. Ukraine is also hoping to join NATO, after moving close to the Western military alliance during the war. Ukraine is keen to join the EU, but membership has many requirements and is still a long way off. Von der Leyen did not name the countries, but unusual trade flows through China and Turkey have been on the EU’s radar for some time. The EU has noticed that certain products that have been banned to undermine Russia’s war effort are still getting through, she said. Von der Leyen urged EU member nations to take measures to prevent countries from helping Russia to circumvent the bloc’s sanctions. The missiles came hours before European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the European Union’s executive branch, arrived in Kyiv. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force said in a Telegram post that eight Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from carriers in the Black Sea toward the east and 17 from strategic aircraft. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied involvement.Īt the last minute on Monday, officials announced that the leaders of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan would head to Moscow as well. Last week, Russia claimed it foiled an attack by Ukrainian drones on the Kremlin that it called an unsuccessful assassination attempt against Putin. It wasn’t clear whether their decisions were taken in coordination with the Kremlin.
Regional officials blamed unspecified “security concerns” or vaguely referred to “the current situation” for the restrictions and cancelations. Russian media counted 24 cities that also scrapped military parades - another staple of the celebrations - for the first time in years. “That seems to be for fear that those people who have lost their relatives in this current war on Ukraine might actually join the processions and show just the scale of the casualties that Russia has suffered in its current war,” Giles said. Meanwhile, the traditional Immortal Regiment processions, in which crowds take to the streets holding portraits of relatives who died or served in World War II - a pillar of the holiday - were canceled in multiple cities.
But so much of that military might has already been mauled in Ukraine that Russia has very little to show on its parade in Red Square,” said Keir Giles, a Russia expert at London’s Chatham House think tank. “This is supposed to be a showpiece for Russian military might. The Kremlin’s forces deployed in Ukraine are defending a front line stretching more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), presumably thinning the ranks of troops available for such displays. “We’re upset, but that’s all right it will be better in the future.” There are no tanks,” said Yelena Orlova, watching the vehicles rumble down Moscow’s Novy Arbat avenue after leaving Red Square. There was no fly-over of military jets, and the event lasted less than the usual hour.
Even the procession in 2020, the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, featured some 13,000 soldiers, and last year, 11,000 troops took part. Some 8,000 troops took part in the parade in Moscow’s Red Square on Tuesday - the lowest number since 2008.
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