{"id":16450,"date":"2026-05-08T11:40:19","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:40:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/16450\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T11:40:19","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T11:40:19","slug":"russias-wwii-victory-celebrations-are-muted-this-year-as-ukraine-war-weighs-on-putin-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/16450\/","title":{"rendered":"Russia\u2019s WWII victory celebrations are muted this year as Ukraine war weighs on Putin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tensions are high as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday Saturday, with fears about security amid the war with Ukraine<\/a> and signs of domestic discontent<\/a> casting a shadow over annual celebrations<\/a> in Moscow\u2019s Red Square.<\/p>\n

A unilateral ceasefire in Ukraine<\/a> that Russia announced for Friday and Saturday quickly unraveled. Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the continued fighting, just as they did when Ukraine\u2019s own unilateral ceasefire swiftly collapsed earlier in the week.<\/p>\n

The accusations reflect the deep-seated lack of trust between the two sides more than four years after Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion of its neighbor. That has thwarted U.S.-led diplomatic efforts<\/a> to find a peace settlement.<\/p>\n

Ukraine’s new drone and missile technology<\/a> has helped it hit deep inside Russia frequently and accurately in recent months, especially major oil facilities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, rumblings of unhappiness with some of the Kremlin\u2019s wartime policies have put the spotlight on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is due to make a speech on Saturday to mark Victory Day. It commemorates victory over Nazi Germany 81 years ago in World War II and has in the past provided an opportunity for fanfare and national fervor as well as showcasing Russia’s military might.<\/p>\n

This year is different.<\/p>\n

The Russia-Ukraine war rages unabated<\/p>\n

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Friday that its forces in Ukraine \u201ccompletely ceased combat operations and remained at their previously occupied lines and positions\u201d from midnight, when Putin\u2019s unilateral ceasefire came into force.<\/p>\n

But it accused Ukrainian forces of continuing to strike Russian positions as well as civilian infrastructure in border areas of the Belgorod and the Kursk regions.<\/p>\n

Air defenses shot down 390 Ukrainian drones and six Neptune long-range guided missiles aimed at Russia after midnight, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

A Ukrainian drone strike hit the administrative building of the Southern Russia Air Navigation branch in Rostov-on-Don, forcing 13 airports in the south of the country to suspend operations, Russia\u2019s Transport Ministry said.<\/p>\n

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a different story. Russian forces continued attacking on the front line overnight, he said, while Ukrainian air defense forces shot down 56 Russian drones.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll this clearly shows that there was not even a pretense of a ceasefire attempt from the Russian side,\u201d Zelenskyy said.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy also claimed Friday another Ukrainian long-range strike<\/a> on a Russian oil sector facility, this time in the Yaroslavl region, more than 700 kilometers (400 miles) from the border. He didn\u2019t specify when the attack happened.<\/p>\n

Russia warns of heavy retaliation if Moscow is attacked<\/p>\n

Russian officials have repeatedly warned that Moscow would take decisive action \u2014 including a potential mass strike on Kyiv \u2014 if Ukrainian attacks disrupt official events scheduled for Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have strengthened our focus on the possibility of retaliatory measures,\u201d presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told journalists Thursday.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s Foreign Ministry advised foreign embassies and international organizations located in Kyiv to evacuate their offices in case such a strike did take place, and the Defense Ministry urged civilians to evacuate, too.<\/p>\n

Zelenskyy, meanwhile, expressed surprise that foreign dignitaries would be going to Moscow for the commemorations.<\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, Laos President Thongloun Sisoulith, and Belarus\u2019 authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko were due in the Russian capital. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia, a European Union member, was to meet with Putin and lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier memorial just outside the Kremlin walls but stay away from the Red Square parade.<\/p>\n

Difficulties mount for Putin and dampen the annual occasion<\/p>\n

Putin, who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, has used the USSR\u2019s victory in World War II to rally support for him and the war in Ukraine, as well as to project Russia\u2019s global clout.<\/p>\n

That made it surprising that the traditional parade will take place without tanks, missiles and other military equipment<\/a>, aside from war planes in a traditional flyover, for the first time in nearly two decades. Officials put the move down to the \u201ccurrent operational situation,\u201d without elaborating.<\/p>\n

Russia\u2019s bigger and better-equipped army has been engaged in a slow, hard slog in Ukraine. The February 2022 invasion was supposed to deliver a quick win for the Kremlin.<\/p>\n

Ukraine\u2019s long-range attacks deep inside Russia are rattling the Kremlin. The attacks are targeting Russian oil production as well as manufacturing plants and military depots.<\/p>\n

Some Russians are disgruntled about internet censorship and government control over online activities, including the blocking of the popular messaging app Telegram. <\/p>\n

All mobile internet access and text messaging services will be restricted in Moscow on Saturday, according Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, which said that the drastic measures were to ensure public safety<\/p>\n

The restrictions will apply to websites on the Russian government\u2019s \u201cwhite list,\u201d a group of state-approved online services that are kept available during the country\u2019s increasingly common connectivity blackouts. Home internet and Wi-Fi will be unaffected, authorities said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Follow AP\u2019s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/russia-ukraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tensions are high as Russia prepares to celebrate its most important secular holiday Saturday, with fears about security…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[416,170,1229,372,5,213,788,173],"class_list":{"0":"post-16450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-russia","8":"tag-a","9":"tag-general-news","10":"tag-international-agreements","11":"tag-military-and-defense","12":"tag-russia","13":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","14":"tag-war-and-unrest","15":"tag-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/russia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}