scaled-back Victory Day parades<\/a> in years, citing the threat of attack from Ukraine, where a decisive victory for Moscow\u2019s forces has remained elusive more than four years into the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II.<\/p>\nThe May 9 parade on Moscow\u2019s Red Square is Russia\u2019s most revered national holiday, a moment to celebrate the Soviet Union\u2019s defeat of Nazi Germany and to commemorate the 27 million Soviet citizens, including many from what is now Ukraine, who were killed during the war.<\/p>\n
Once used to showcase Russia\u2019s military might, including its nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missiles, this year\u2019s parade featured no tanks or other heavy military hardware rolling across the cobblestones of Red Square.<\/p>\n
Instead, weapons including a Yars intercontinental ballistic missile, the new Arkhangelsk nuclear submarine, the Peresvet laser weapon, the Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet, the S-500 surface-to-air missile system and a range of drones and artillery were displayed on giant screens on the square and broadcast on state television.<\/p>\n
Soldiers and sailors, some of whom have served in Ukraine, marched and chanted as President Vladimir Putin looked on, seated alongside Russian veterans in the shadow of Vladimir Lenin\u2019s Mausoleum. North Korean troops, who have fought against Ukrainian forces in Russia\u2019s Kursk region, also took part in the march.<\/p>\n
Fighter jets flew above the Kremlin\u2019s towers and Putin delivered an eight-minute address, promising victory in the war in Ukraine, which the Kremlin refers to as a \u201cspecial military operation\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe great feat of the victorious generation inspires the soldiers carrying out the tasks of the special military operation today,\u201d Putin said. \u201cThey are confronting an aggressive force armed and supported by the entire NATO bloc. And in spite of that, our heroes march forward.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published On 9 May 20269 May 2026 Russia has held one of its most scaled-back Victory Day parades…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":784271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[440,16610,51,16611,1802,50,257,3657,52,274],"class_list":{"0":"post-784270","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-gallery","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-in-pictures","12":"tag-military","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-russia","15":"tag-russia-ukraine-war","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-vladimir-putin"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116544740746973343","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=784270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}