Troops march towards Purple Sq. to attend a rehearsal for the Victory Day navy parade in Moscow, Russia, on Could 3, 2025. (Sefa Karacan / Anadolu through Getty Photographs)
Russia’s annual Victory Day parade is happening in Moscow on Could 9, in per week dramatically marked by a sequence of Ukrainian drone strikes on town, and a doubtful unilateral ceasefire introduced by the Kremlin.
Russia’s Victory Day celebrations, which mark the Soviet Union’s position in defeating Nazi Germany in World War II, are one of many nation’s largest public occasions of the yr.
The annual occasion is a key a part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s propaganda efforts to justify aggression towards what the Kremlin falsely describes as “Nazis” in Ukraine.
The parade takes place after Ukraine reportedly attacked Moscow with drones for 3 days in a row from Could 4-6, repeatedly forcing the closure of a number of airports within the area.
In an effort to supply some semblance of safety to the occasion, Russia final month unilaterally introduced a “humanitarian” truce from May 8 till midnight on Could 11.
Beneath no obligation to join a ceasefire it wasn’t consulted on, Ukraine has not agreed to stick to it, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissing it as a “theatrical efficiency.”
Zelensky stated Ukraine cannot guarantee the safety of overseas officers planning to attend Moscow on Could 9, warning that any incidents on Russian territory fall solely below the Kremlin’s management.
Who's attending Moscow’s parade?
Not less than 29 world leaders have been expected to attend the event, Russian state-controlled media reported on Could 6.
“We now have invited many overseas company. And we count on 29 leaders of the nations we’ve invited to be current on the Victory Parade,” Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov informed reporters.
Final yr, solely 9 overseas leaders joined Russian President Vladimir Putin on the parade. Ukraine and most European nations mark Could 8 as Victory in Europe Day.
Probably the most high-profile visitor in attendance this yr might be Chinese language President Xi Jinping who arrived in Moscow on Could 8 to “signal a lot of bilateral inter-governmental and inter-departmental paperwork” to strengthen Chinese language-Russian relations, in response to the Kremlin.
It’s Xi’s second journey to Russia, after he met with Putin in Moscow in 2023 throughout his first overseas go to since his re-election.
China, which portrays itself as a impartial social gathering within the struggle, has change into the Kremlin’s largest provider of dual-use goods important for weapons manufacturing.
Tensions between Ukraine and China have risen in latest weeks after Zelensky on April 9 stated that 155 Chinese citizens have been preventing for Russia on the territory of Ukraine.
A day prior, Kyiv captured the primary two Chinese nationals in Donetsk Oblast. China has denied any position in Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Xi was initially scheduled to fly to Russia on Could 7 — it is now identified if Ukraine’s drone strikes delayed his arrival.
President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can also be in Moscow in present of assist to Putin.
In keeping with Brazilian media, Lula will maintain a bilateral assembly with Putin throughout which he hopes to place himself as a mediator in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.
In 2024, Lula collectively developed a Ukraine peace plan with China that was dismissed as “destructive” by Kyiv.
European officers absent on Purple Sq.
Europe is sparsely represented on the parade — Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico represents the one EU member state, whereas Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic can also be attending.
All different EU leaders are boycotting the parade once again. The U.S. additionally doesn’t plan to ship representatives, regardless of U.S. President Donald Trump’s sharp flip of American overseas coverage in the direction of renewing diplomatic contacts with Russia that have been severed after its 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In keeping with Russian state media, the opposite world leaders in attendance are these from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burkina Faso, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Guinea Bissau, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Mongolia, Myanmar, Palestine, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe.
Representatives from North Korea and Russian-controlled Abkhazia and South Ossetia, in addition to protection ministers from 31 nations, can even be current.
A lot of nations are additionally contributing troops to the parade. Navy personnel from 13 nations — Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Egypt, Laos, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam — are anticipated to march by Moscow.
Different safety measures
In addition to the unilateral truce, Russia on Could 7 confirmed that cell web restrictions might be enforced in Moscow and a number of other Russian areas whereas overseas officers go to the nation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov claimed the measures, which can final by Could 10, are obligatory as a consequence of “harmful neighbors.”
‘The front is noisy’ — for Ukraine’s soldiers, Russia’s Victory Day ‘ceasefire’ is yet another sham
Moscow’s self-declared truce which came into force at midnight on May 8 is not being felt on the front lines, Ukrainian soldiers have told the Kyiv Independent, reporting numerous cases of Russian military activity throughout the day. “There is no truce. There is shelling, artillery, drone and FPV (bomb) drops,” Petro Kuzyk, a battalion commander at the National Guard, said. The Kremlin announced the measure on April 28, claiming all military actions would halt on May 8 to midnight on May 11 t
